Open banking will see banks gain business, Accenture survey finds

A survey of 2000 Australian consumers has shown that Australian banks enjoy a level of trust above that granted by other organisations, with the result that open banking, when it arrives next year, is set to see data sharing between banks, rather than between banks and third parties.

The survey found that 83% of the consumers surveyed were largely ignorant about the introduction of open banking and the laws around it. The poll also indicated consumers are not entirely ready to embrace open banking as a concept. Their main concerns include the security and privacy of their financial data (64%); a lack of trust in large tech companies when it comes to that data (56%); and a lack of understanding of the benefits (53%).

As far as trust levels went, 57% were inclined to trust their own banks with access to their financial data while their trust in third parties was much lower: big technology companies (29%), other banks (8%) and retailers (3%). Even the prospect of better deals would not lure consumers to share banking data with non-bank third parties, the survey found, with 66% indicating as such.

Accenture representatives have stated that, since Australians still don’t understand open banking and are prepared to guard their financial data closely, there’s unlikely to be a mad rush to develop or adopt Open Banking-based services next year, particularly outside the banking sector.