National Australia Bank has been slapped with the country’s largest ever fine under the consumer data sharing regime for failing to disclose credit limit information on four occasions.
The big four bank paid penalties of $751,200 after being issued four infringement notices for the alleged contraventions of the Consumer Data Right rules, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced on Thursday.
The ACCC alleged NAB failed to “disclose, or accurately disclose, credit limit data in response to four separate requests made by different CDR accredited providers on behalf of consumers”.
The oversight impacted a number of fintech that rely on the data to offer services, such as mortgage broking tools, the ACCC said. The CDR scheme has been primarily designed to give consumers greater access to and control over their data.
NAB, which has been an accredited CDR data holder since July 2020 and a data recipient since September 2021, has since rectified the data quality issues identified by the competition watchdog.
The penalty for banking and energy companies that breach the regime was $187,800 – the maximum available at the time of the alleged contraventions.
It is the highest amount paid for alleged contraventions of the CDR rules to date”, the ACCC said. NAB is also the first big four bank to be penalised.
Last year, global banking giant HSBC avoided a hefty fine despite allegedly sending inaccurate and incomplete data through the CDR, paying just $33,000 for two infringement notices.
In 2022, the ACCC levied fines of $133,200 against the Bank of Queensland — the first-ever CDR fine — and $55,280 against ING for alleged breaches.
As the CDR enters its fifth year, and as the government looks to extend the scheme to non-bank lenders from mid-2026, the ACCC said data quality issues remain a priority area of concern.
“Poor data quality prevents consumers from experiencing the full benefits of the CDR,” ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe said while announcing the fine on Thursday.
“When banks or energy retailers don’t provide accurate data, consumers can’t take advantage of CDR products and services to compare products, find better deals, manage their finances or make informed decisions about product switching.”
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