Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones, has announced the expansion of the Consumer Data Right (CDR) into superannuation will be paused.
The CDR allows consumers to control the use of their data by trusted third parties so they could compare products and find a better deal.
This currently applies to banking and energy but there are plans for it to be expanded to financial products.
Last January, Jones’ predecessor under the Liberal government, senator Jane Hume, said it could be expanded to include superannuation products.
Speaking at the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA), Jones said the government had now decided to pause its expansion to allow for assessment of how it is working in other sectors.
Jones said: “Before expanding CDR into multiple new industries, we need to support take-up and deepen its place in the sectors where it is already operating.
“So our focus over the next two years will be on:
- Improving data quality and deepening participation in the existing sectors: banking and energy
- Cyber security improvements across all CDR agencies to reflect the evolving data landscape
- Expanding awareness of CDR as a data-sharing model that allows consumers to easily identify CDR-enabled providers, products, and services
“We will pause the expansion of CDR into superannuation, insurance, and telecommunications.
“We want to do the work to get it right, to minimise the risks and maximise the benefits and to have clear use cases identified so that public and private investment can be properly assessed.
“We will undertake a strategic assessment at the end of 2024. Further developments and further expansions will be considered as part of that process, but not before.”
