The launch of Amex Pay with Bank Transfer service in Australia on hold

However, the process could be restarted if Consumer Data Right (CDR) is expanded to ‘write-access’ under Open Banking in Australia. Amex Pay with Bank Transfer service allows customers to make payments directly to merchants from their own bank accounts, without the need to be an American Express cardholder. The service was launched in the UK under the country’s implementation of Open Banking in the last three months of 2019.

Currently, fintechs only have ‘read-only’ access to transactional data, unlike incumbents that have access to payments infrastructure and capabilities. Amex has proposed for access to payments initiation to be opened so all banking institutions, independent of their size, are able to offer ‘full service’ products and apps.

It also suggested that write-access is enabled for CDR and under the New Payments Platform (NPP). Amex also noted how while it's supportive of the need for privacy protections for consumers and absolute transparency, a balance needs to be reached to ensure that consumers do not see CDR as risky, according to ZDnet.