Live bank feeds are now available for NZ 

New Zealand credit bureau Centrix has today (21 November) revealed it will be switching on live bank data feeds when permitted by the borrower with the help of global data aggregator Envestnet Yodlee.

Centrix said with the permission of the borrower, it can now access transaction data directly from the borrower’s bank account to support up-to-date debt servicing and affordability checks based on actual income and expenditure rather than self-reported estimates or proxies.

The credit bureau said the advancement provides “several benefits to both borrowers and lenders” and was a key step as it looks to remain on the cutting edge of “credit reporting and decisioning tools for lenders, brokers and landlords in the New Zealand market”.

Centrix stated: “By permitting direct access to bank data, borrowers can save time and hassle when completing loan applications, and lenders can remain compliant with the enhanced consumer protections legislated by the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act, which requires lenders to determine the affordability and sustainability of a loan.”

Chief operating officer at Centrix, Monika Lacey, said: “Our clients will start to see some specific benefits coming through such as a broad range of income and verification solutions, data and analytics to support new customer segments, and future-proofed lending that will harness open banking in New Zealand when that goes live.”

Taner Uzelakcil, director of business development A/NZ at Envestnet Yodlee, added: “We’re looking forward to working with Centrix to go deep with data and deliver global open banking trends and insights as well as world-class products and services designed specifically for the New Zealand market.”

The technological step towards open banking in New Zealand comes as the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) recently called on the mortgage and finance broking industry to accelerate the transition to the Consumer Data Right (CDR).

It added that as the federal government is considering whether it should regulate or ban screen scraping due to the introduction of the CDR framework, lenders and aggregators need to speed up the process of providing broker access to open banking data.

MFAA chief executive Anja Pannek stated: “We’ve been in regular discussion with Treasury this year, highlighting how extensively the mortgage broking industry relies on products that leverage screen scraping technology, such as BankStatements.com and CashDeck, to meet responsible lending and other regulatory requirements.

“What’s clear is that the federal government would like reliance on this technology to end and regulation of these tools is coming. With that in mind, all of industry needs to accelerate the use of CDR for trusted advisers, including mortgage brokers, to obtain access to their clients’ financial data.”

FBAA crosses the ditch

The Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA) earlier this month revealed that it would be going across the ditch to New Zealand.

The FBAA stated that a new NZ branch would be established for Kiwi mortgage advisers, with it to have its own “look, feel and balance”.

At the time of the announcement, FBAA managing director Peter White added: “There are Australian brokers who already have a footprint over there, and we’re here to support you and your businesses in those kinds of initiatives.

“It’s very exciting times and we’re very much looking forward to that and supporting you further, supporting our neighbours [in NZ] who are not that far away from us … we’ve always got to look to what is next and I’m always looking forward to what is next.”

[Related: MFAA calls on industry to adopt CDR faster]