Open Banking

On 1 October 2020 BT Financial commenced data sharing for product reference data via our public Open Banking Product API, in line with the Government’s phased implementation of the Open Banking regulations. Product reference data can be used by third parties to make comparisons of products and prices across the market.

On 1 February 2022 BT Financial commenced consumer data sharing, allowing eligible customers to share their data for in-scope products with Accredited Data Recipients (ADRs). The products and data available for consumer data sharing will continue to expand in line with the phased implementation of the Open Banking regulations. Consumer data sharing gives consumers greater access to and control over their data and may improve consumers’ ability to compare and switch between products and services.

One of the purposes of Open Banking is to increase competition across financial services and potentially allow customers to negotiate better deals and save money. Open Banking means that you will be able to share your data with Accredited Data Recipients (ADRs). This will give you access to products and services offered by ADRs that may suit your needs.

The BT Financial products which are in-scope for data sharing are issued by Westpac. BT Financial customers can share their in-scope data through Westpac Online Banking. Customers who are already registered to bank online via Westpac Online Banking can share their data with Accredited Data Recipients (ADRs). Customers who are not registered on Westpac online banking must register on Westpac online banking before they can start sharing their data with ADRs. 

Westpac Group is the product issuer of BT Financial Open Banking eligible products.  Access to Open Banking for Westpac issued products is provided through Westpac Online Banking. 

BT Financial is committed to ensuring that your data is safe including via Open Banking. Customers who want to use Open Banking will need to be registered for Westpac online banking. See “Why does a BT Financial customer need to register with Westpac Online Banking to share their data” above, for more information.

Accredited Data Recipients (ADRs) who are providing products or services under Open Banking must comply with privacy and security requirements and be accredited by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

It is entirely your choice if you wish to use Open Banking.

For personal customers, Open Banking requires you to be registered for Westpac Online Banking to authorise data sharing with an ADR. You will use your Customer Number and a One Time Password, through Protect SMS, to authorise any sharing of information. If you change your mind you can revoke your authorisation to share data with ADRs at any time using your data sharing dashboard accessed through Westpac Online Banking.

For business customers, Open Banking requires a Nominated Representative to register for online banking to authorise data sharing of the company with an ADR. The Nominated Representative will use their Westpac Customer Number and a One Time Password through Westpac Protect SMS, to authorise any sharing of information. (see further Frequently Asked Questions below for more information about data sharing authorities and Nominated Representatives). If you change your mind, your Nominated Representative(s) can revoke consents for sharing your data with ADRs at any time, using the data sharing dashboard on Westpac Online Banking.

Business customers with an active data sharing authority can also disable this authority at any time by completing an Open Banking Data Sharing Authority form. Once the data sharing authority is inactive, business network administrators cannot manage data sharing on behalf of their Organisation, including creating Nominated Representative(s) to grant, amend and manage consent to share data. Once disabled, business network administrator(s) will need to complete the Open Banking Data Sharing Authority form to re-activate the feature.

You may ask us to share your BT Financial consumer data, or other consumer data you have given us permission to collect, in order to get a banking product or service from another organisation, such as another bank.

For example, if you apply for a loan with another bank and they request to see data on your BT Financial cash management account as part of their assessment, you can give us permission to share your BT Financial consumer data relating to that cash management account with them if they are accredited to receive data by the ACCC. 

For personal customers, to start the consent process, you will need to visit the Open Banking consent portal of the Accredited Data Recipient (ADR) you wish us to share your data with.  This ADR may be another bank or fintech. Once you have granted your consent to the ADR to collect data on your behalf through their consent portal, you will be connected to Westpac online banking, where we will ask you to authorise us to share your data with the ADR.

For business customers, your Nominated Representative(s) will need to visit the Open Banking consent portal of the ADR you wish us to share your data with (see “What’s New for Open Banking” above for more information about data sharing authorities and Nominated Representatives). The business network administrator can manage Nominated Representatives through the Administration module on Online Banking. An Organisation must have at least one active Nominated Representative before we can share data with an ADR.

Under the Consumer Data Right, we will only share your BT Financial consumer data with another organisation if you give us permission to do so.

You can use your data sharing dashboard in online banking to track all the permissions you have given to us to share your data. For business customers, Nominated Representative(s) can access this data sharing dashboard to track all permissions they have given to us to share data on your Organisation’s behalf. We will always notify you via the data sharing dashboard as soon as practicable after sharing your data.

You may withdraw your permission for us to share your consumer data on any account at any time by using your data sharing dashboard through online banking.

Once your permission for us to share your data has been withdrawn, we will no longer share your data and will provide you with a notice of this as soon as practicable.  

For business customers, Nominated Representatives may withdraw permission for us to share your consumer data on any account at any time by using the data sharing dashboard through Online Banking. 

Your data sharing dashboard on online banking will show you all your active consents and any previous consents that you have provided, which have expired or been revoked or cancelled.

For business customers, only Nominated Representatives have access to view any active and archived consents that have been provided. All Nominated Representatives will view the same dashboard and can revoke or cancel a consent regardless of which Nominated Representative granted or amended the consent. 

When creating your consent, you can select how long you would like it to stay active. A consent may be for a one time share or you may select a period of up to 12 months. The maximum time limit for consent to remain active is 12 months, before it will expire. If you would like to continue sharing data once it has expired, you will need to create a new consent.

You may choose to create more than one consent or different consents for different accounts, depending on the information you wish to share and the length of consent you would like to give. 

Some Accredited Data Recipients (ADRs) may also allow you to amend an active consent on your data sharing accounts. By visiting the ADR’s app, you may have the option to extend a consent or change the accounts within the consent. This can only be activated through the ADR.

On 4 August 2022, BT Financial commenced the implementation of data sharing for joint accounts held by individual customers. 

Key changes:

1. BT Financial will enable all eligible joint accounts for data sharing, consistent with the Consumer Data Right rules and obligations.
2. When a joint account is ‘enabled’ for data sharing, any account holder will be able to authorise consent to data sharing with an Accredited Data Recipient (ADR). When the joint account is ‘enabled’, any Open Banking data sharing authorisations created by one account holder are taken to have been pre-approved by all account holders. This means that any joint account holder can authorise BT Financial to share data on the joint account with an ADR, without requiring further approval from any other joint account holder, when BT Financial receives a valid data sharing request from an ADR in respect of that joint account. This is despite any existing banking authorities that apply to the joint account (e.g., 'more than one to sign', etc).
3. Any joint account holder can at any time view the joint account's data sharing option or change it to disabled at any time through the online consent dashboard in Westpac Online Banking (see “Why does a BT customer need to register with Westpac online banking to share their data?” in the FAQ below for more information). Once the data sharing is set to disabled:
   
   a) data sharing will cease for the joint account with respect to any existing data sharing authorisations;
   b) no joint account holder will be able to share data from that account;
   c) any subsequent request made on the online consent dashboard in Internet Banking to enable data sharing on the joint account will need to be approved by all joint account holders within a specified period of time.

Joint account holders will always be notified whenever the data sharing status of the joint account changes.

If your business network was registered before 1 November 2021, your business network owner(s) will need to complete and submit the Open Banking Data Sharing Authority form to activate the feature for the network. This process authorises business network administrators to nominate themselves and/or other business network users to grant, amend and manage consents for data sharing on behalf of the Organisation (Nominated Representatives).

For business networks registered after 1 November 2021, or for existing business networks that have opted in via the form, the Open Banking data sharing feature will be activated for your business network. Business network administrators will be able to create Nominated Representatives to grant, amend and manage consents for data sharing on behalf of the Organisation, within the ‘Administration’ menu on Westpac Online Banking.

A business network administrator can create a Nominated Representative by adding the ‘Open Banking data sharing permission’ to the access permissions of a business network user. Only users who have had their identity verified by Westpac can be authorised to share data as a Nominated Representative.

Business network administrators can also grant Nominated Representative authority to a user when they are adding a new user to their business network.

Nominated Representatives who have been created as described above will be able to share data on accounts eligible for data sharing on behalf of the Organisation.

A business network administrator can also revoke a Nominated Representative authority at any time by removing the ‘Open Banking data sharing permission’ through ‘Administration’ on Westpac Online Banking. Any active data sharing consents established by the Nominated Representative who has been removed will remain until the consent expires, unless revoked by another Nominated Representative. 

Business customers may authorise one or more Nominated Representatives to share data on all accounts eligible for data sharing owned by the business network. This includes accounts closed within the last two years and/or accounts the Nominated Representative may not have access to currently within their Online Banking profile. Your business network administrator will have the ability to nominate and revoke this authority through ‘Administration’ on Westpac Online Banking.

All Nominated Representatives need to be identified by Westpac and have an active business network profile status. All Nominated Representatives will need to be registered for Online Banking and SMS Protect.

All Nominated Representatives need to be identified by Westpac and have an active business network profile status. All Nominated Representatives will need to be registered for Online Banking and SMS Protect.

Disabling a Nominated Representative’s authority to share data also removes their access to the data sharing consent dashboard. Any active data sharing consents created by the Nominated Representative will remain active until the consent expires. Another Nominated Representative within the business network may revoke the consents at any time.

Westpac Group has been approved by the ACCC as an Accredited Data Recipient under the Consumer Data Right/ Open Banking. At this stage BT Financial is not receiving Open Banking data from other banks. Ultimately Open Banking should result in customers getting better access to products that meet their needs. We are excited about the possibilities from Open Banking and over time we expect to allow customers to use Open Banking to more easily bring their banking data from other banks to BT Financial. In the meantime, your BT Financial planner is able to discuss suitable products with you and assist with data required from other financial institutions to support your needs.

As BT Financial launches services that make use of Open Banking, we will provide information to help customers use these services including transferring their Open Banking data from other banks to BT Financial. We will continue to update this internet page with updates as further data sharing services become available.