Screen Scraping in Australian Finance

Abstract

Millions of Australians give their online banking credentials to third parties so as to gain access to financial products and services enabled by the analysis of the data in their bank accounts. Screen Scraping (‘SS’) has contributed significantly to the rise of the FinTech industry. While the risks SS entails are significant, nowhere has the practice been formally outlawed despite the availability of safer data transfer arrangements under Open Banking regimes. We examine approaches to SS in the EU, the UK, and Australia and argue the practice should be prohibited here. Such a ban would have two salutary effects. It would protect consumers in financial hardship who use payday loans and it would accelerate uptake of the Consumer Data Right.