September 2019

The round was led by US-based fintech funds Nyca Partners and QED Investors, along with support from many others, including: Citi Ventures, Commerce VC, Elefund, Horizons Ventures, Royal Bank of Canada, 500 Startups and several high profile angel investors such as Cris Conde, former CEO of Sungard, and Taavet Hinrikus, founder of Transferwise.

Fidel has announced an $18 million Series A round, its first major funding to make card payment data both more secure and more accessible, so that the fintech ecosystem can develop faster.

Version 1.0.0 of the Consumer Data Standards has been released, from the release: Since the previous release on 17 July of the…

Listed fintech company Identitii has announced it has been selected by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) as one of just 10 companies to test the Consumer Data Right (CDR) ecosystem, which will enable Australia’s incoming open banking regime scheduled to go live from February 2020.Identitii (ASX:ID8) says participation in the testing group positions the company as one of the first companies eligible to apply for accreditation under the CDR Rules to access open banking data when the regime is launched.

The Chairman of the Australian Government’s Data Standards Body is seeking Expressions of Interest for
membership to a new advisory committee for the energy sector. The new Energy Advisory Committee will
engage in the next phase of Consumer Data Right (CDR) work to improve the consumers’ ability to compare and
switch between products and services.

86 400, Frollo, Identitii, Procure Build, Quicka, Regional Australia Bank, Verifier Australia, Wildcard Money, Intuit and Moneytree. A group of ten fintech companies and start-ups have been chosen to test the open banking component of Australia’s consumer data right in the lead up to its launch in February 2020. Australia’s consumer watchdog advised the companies of their selection on Wednesday, a month after it went looking for organisations to help test the new data portability rules.

The ACCC will soon reveal the first five to ten companies to get accreditation to receive open banking data. That accreditation however only buys them a ticket to the dance and gives them the opportunity to participate in testing. They will still have to prove their technical and process bona fides in the months ahead. While the new regime – based on the recently passed Consumer Data Right legislation – really kicks in next year in February, companies who want to take advantage of the opportunity will need the time to get their systems in order.

Ramps up preparations for new regime. ANZ Banking Group has ramped up its open banking preparations by running a three-day innovation challenge that generated 21 new apps ideas. The bank held an ‘Innovation Challenge on Open Banking’ through last week, bringing together around 125 staff from across the institution to come up with new digital experiences built in Google cloud.

Digital upstart immediately launches transaction accounts. Private investor-backed neobank Xinja has wasted no time sticking it to the majors, coming straight out with transaction account availability on Monday – the same day it was officially granted a full unrestricted banking license by the Australian Prudential Regulatory authority.

If you have never heard of the proposed Data Sharing and Release Act you are not alone. The new legislation, which will over-ride the Privacy Act (where there are conflicts), has been quietly planned for the past year or so, without much fanfare and little media interest.