ING Bank (Australia) has paid a total $53,280 in fines for allegedly failing to comply with three important legislated deadlines and making a misleading website statement to consumers.
Competition watchdog ACCC alleged that ING Bank missed specific deadlines to share data for certain financial products, including data relating to residential home loans by Nov. 1, 2021, and data relating to joint accounts by Oct. 1, under the Consumer Data Right (CDR) Rules.
“Under the CDR, consumers have a right to safely and securely share certain data with accredited providers, including fintech firms and other third parties, who in turn can use that data to create better customised products and services for the consumer,” ACCC Commissioner Peter Crone said.
ACCC alleged that ING failed to meet these obligations, as it was not capable of receiving consumer data requests from accredited data recipients acting on behalf of consumers, potentially denying its customers the full benefits of the CDR program.
“Unlike customers of most other banks, many ING customers were not able to fully benefit from the services of accredited businesses using their CDR data,” Crone said. “Allowing consumers to share CDR data relevant to these services, including those relating to financial management and comparison tools, is important, especially given current cost of living pressures and rising interest rates.”
ACCC also alleged that ING breached the Australian Consumer Law when, between Oct. 18, 2021 and Feb. 2, the bank represented that its accredited person request service had been operational since July 1, 2021, when this was not the case.
“All CDR participants are warned that any claims about the CDR must be accurate and able to be substantiated, or they risk breaching the Australian Consumer Law, which can attract significant penalties if the ACCC commences court proceedings,” Crone said.
ING Bank pulled the allegedly false or misleading statement from its website after the ACCC raised its concerns.
An ING spokesperson said the bank is committed to build a safe and secure open banking experience for its customers.
“We started our open banking journey in 2019 and have approached the delivery of this program with the best of intentions for Australian bank customers,” the spokesperson said. “In fact, we were the first non-major bank to release our product reference data to developers for open banking. However, in more recent times, our delivery commitments were delayed mostly due to an unforeseen technical compatibility issue that became apparent as the open banking regime requirements evolved. This issue has now been resolved.
“While we accept and have paid the fine, not resolving the compatibility issue would have jeopardised our ability to transfer customer data to the open banking ecosystem in a safe and secure manner. This is not something we were prepared to compromise on, even if it meant falling behind on delivery timelines. ING’s commitment to open banking remains a key priority for the organisation. We will continue to cooperate with the ACCC and we have a plan in place to deliver the remaining open banking functionality in 2023.”
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