ASIC chair backs Australian inquiry into banks sharing data 
The chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Greg Medcraft, has backed the government's banking inquiry into whether banks should provide each other “open access” to key customer data to boost competition and lower barriers to banking. However, he also noted that the policy was for the government to focus on, and that he was unsure whether ASIC is the right body to enforce a data-sharing regime. 

Corporate cop Greg Medcraft says the government's banking inquiry is right to focus on ways to make banks share more data on their customers, a move that would boost competition in the concentrated sector.

The chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission welcomed the call last week by the inquiry for a boost in competition through digital technology, and by removing "barriers" to starting a new bank.

More sharing of bank customers' data would benefit competition, ASIC says. Credit: Cole Bennetts

However, he also indicated it was not clear if ASIC would be the right body to enforce such a data-sharing regime, and it was too early to provide a formal response to the inquiry's recommendations.

Mr Medcraft, appearing before a parliamentary committee on Friday, was quizzed about the banking inquiry's recommendation to force banks to provide "open access" to key data on their customers by July 2018.