Can an individual use the Open Banking APIs in Australia, or must you go through an Accredited Data Recipient?

Question

I've been excited to learn about Australia's Open Banking initiative. In particular, I had hoped that I would be able to use my own bank's APIs to automatically access my bank transactions, so that I could integrate them into my personal budgeting process.

However, most of the literature about Open Banking talks about "accredited data recipients" as being who you go through in order to obtain your data. I would much rather not give my consent to any third party, and simply get my own personal data myself, using my bank's APIs.

Is there any guarantee from the Open Banking rules that have been put in place that will make my bank provide me with APIs to access my own personal banking data?

Answer 1

Is there any guarantee from the Open Banking rules that have been put in place that will make my bank provide me with APIs to access my own personal banking data?

No there is not. The Open Banking initiative is designed to make it easier for large companies that are individually assessed and accredited by the ACCC to share data (eg allowing mortgage brokers access to your bank accounts for credit checks (and to sell your transaction history (Yes, really. I read the terms of service for my broker and decided to send him paper instead of using their app))

Coming close to the mark is the Consumer Data Right, which sounds like you have the right to your data, but in practice is that you have the right to have your data transferred to a different provider directly.

This page shows the current providers implementing the APIs. The only two accredited consumers at time of answer is Intuit (Quicken software) and the budgetting app Frollo.

What you want is a retail bank that offers an API for customers.
Looking around, The big 4 have either product info only, or closed/on-application developer APIs.
The only one with APIs open to the customer I found was from UP