As you may be aware, I wrote to the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, (4 March 2016) about the ePayments Code, and how the banks were playing fast and loose with the truth when telling consumers that their internet banking login details should not be disclosed to third parties, such as Raiz.

This is an important issue as most of our users provide their internet banking details.

It was Raiz’ opinion that the banks were overstepping the mark and now correspondence I have received from ASIC would suggest the regulator, at the very least, has sympathy with our point of view.

Without going into all the details, this was positive news because of the following points ASIC made.

1.      ASIC acknowledges that the messaging from banks about not sharing your login details with third parties is from the early 1980s, when ATMs were introduced, and is out of date in the new world of apps such as Raiz.

2.      ASIC acknowledged the potential value of third party services, such as Raiz, having interaction with a consumer’s bank accounts.

3.      ASIC notes that the Government has accepted the recommendation of the Financial System Inquiry to make the ePayments Code mandatory.  If this mandatory adoption of the Code were implemented, ASIC would ensure that the Code, which protects the consumer when providing internet login details, is “operated appropriately” by banks. Although ASIC did not spell it out, we understand that what ASIC is saying is that the banks are currently not “operating appropriately” under the Code. But until the Code is mandatory they will not act unilaterally while other areas of government, such as the Productivity Commission, are reviewing related issues.

This correspondence from ASIC indicates that the regulator understands the position of Raiz and has expressed a degree of solidarity with that position in regards to the misleading information being provided by some banks. We’re looking forward to seeing how this develops and reaching a point where Australians are free to engage with services such as Raiz without concerns that they are breaching conditions set by their banks. 

George Lucas, Raiz CEO