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The customer-owned bank has partnered with NextGen to roll out the capability across its branch network and mobile channel, allowing customers applying for home loans, personal loans, car loans and credit cards to securely share their financial data as part of the application process.
Instead of manually providing bank statements and other supporting documents, customers can authorise the sharing of their financial information through Australia’s Consumer Data Right (CDR) framework. The data is then automatically populated into the application, reducing manual data entry for both customers and lenders.
Beyond Bank said the move builds on its earlier adoption of open banking in the broker channel, with the technology now supporting applications regardless of whether they originate through a broker or directly with the bank.
According to the bank, extending open banking across both distribution channels will provide a consistent verification and credit assessment process while reducing assessment times.
Chief operating officer Wendy Den Hartog said the rollout was designed to simplify the application process while giving customers greater control over how their financial data is shared.
“Open banking has already demonstrated its value in the broker market and we are proud to be the first branch-based lender to bring this capability to our retail network,” she said.
Open banking adoption grows
NextGen, which owns open banking provider Frollo and its broker-focused solution Frollo for Brokers, said almost 120,000 consumers shared their financial data with mortgage brokers through its platform during the last financial year, with open banking now used in close to one in 10 broker-originated home loan applications.
The technology provider also said applications supported by open banking data are approved an average of 11 per cent faster than those submitted through traditional processes.
For refinance applications, approval times improve by up to 21 per cent, while some major lenders have reported assessment times falling by as much as 49 per cent.
The wider open banking ecosystem has also continued to gather pace.
Earlier this month, the CDR regime, which underpins open banking in Australia, was extended to the non-bank lending sector.
Shortly after, major banks told a Senate committee hearing that expanding access to Australian Taxation Office data could play a key role in strengthening fraud detection and identity verification.
Mike Ponsonby, head of lender partnerships at NextGen, said Beyond Bank’s expansion into the branch channel represented another step in the industry’s adoption of open banking technology.
“Extending open banking into the branch channel is a genuine first for Australia’s retail lending market,” Ponsonby said.
“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. We’re proud to power this next chapter for Beyond Bank.”
[Related: How open banking could rewire broker-client relationships]
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