Beyond Bank has become the first branch-based lender to offer open banking directly to customers applying in person, extending a capability it had previously only offered through brokers.
Working with lending technology provider NextGen, the customer-owned bank is rolling the feature out across its retail branches and mobile channel, covering home loan, personal loan, car loan, and credit card applications.
Rather than customers manually collecting months of bank statements and payslips, branch lenders can now issue a digital consent request on the spot. With a few taps on their own device, the customer authorises secure sharing of their financial data — including assets, liabilities, income, and expenses — which is pulled in and pre-filled into the application within minutes.
Beyond Bank chief operating officer Wendy Den Hartog (pictured left) said the change was about handing control back to customers.
"This is about putting our customers in control of their own data and making the lending process as simple and transparent as possible. Our branch lenders can now have richer, more informed conversations — and customers can get answers faster," Den Hartog said.
The announcement comes weeks after the ACCC confirmed non-bank lenders will also be brought into the CDR from 9 November — a separate expansion of the same regulatory framework.
The benefits extend well beyond the branch counter. With open banking now active across both broker and branch channels, all applications — regardless of where they originate — flow through the same verification and credit assessment process, replacing manual, multi-screen checks, and cutting some assessment tasks from days to minutes.
NextGen head of lender partnerships Mike Ponsonby (pictured right) said Beyond Bank's move set a new benchmark.
"Extending open banking into the branch channel is a genuine first for Australia's retail lending market. The data quality and speed improvements we're seeing industry-wide confirm that this is not just a better process — it's a fundamentally better outcome for customers and lenders alike," Ponsonby said.
Open banking use in broker-originated loans is approaching 10% of the market, with loans using open banking data approved 11% faster on average than those without — rising to 21% faster for refinances. Among major banks, the gains were sharper still, with one lender processing open Banking-supported refinances 49% faster.
Regulators are seeing this trend at a national level too. At Sydney's Fintech Data Horizons Summit in May, the ACCC's Ian Oppermann said open banking had "turned a very substantial corner," with the CDR now counting 1.2 million active users nationally.
Get the hottest and freshest property and mortgage news delivered right into your inbox. Subscribe now to our FREE daily newsletter.
