Question
Is information about interest rates and payments associated with a statutory trust account (STA) product required to be shared under CDR?
Answer
Background on STA products
An STA is a trust account supplied by a bank to certain people or businesses who are required by statute to maintain a trust account (such as lawyers and real estate agents) and use that account to hold money on behalf of clients. Generally only those who are required to maintain an STA and have the required ‘license’ as proof are eligible to open an STA (for example, a lawyer would have to show their practising certificate). The account holders of an STA may not earn interest on the account. Instead, interest accrued may be paid directly by the bank to the relevant ‘statutory body’ (for example, the relevant regulatory body for the particular profession). Interest rates for an STA may be negotiated between the bank and the statutory body and the account holder may not be privy to the interest rates and interest payments to the statutory body.
STAs generally considered in scope for CDR
An STA product will generally be considered an in-scope product for CDR because it appears to fall within the meaning of ‘product’ in the Consumer Data Right (Authorised Deposit-Taking Institutions) Designation 2019 (banking designation instrument) and as a ‘trust’ account, it would be considered a phase 3 product under the CDR Rules.
Whether information, as well as what specific components of that information, associated with STA products must or may be shared under CDR will turn on the specific features of the STA product and the information in question.
Factors data holders may wish to consider:
While the ACCC recommends that data holders obtain their own advice specific to their STA products, they may wish to take into account the following factors when considering whether interest rate and interest payment data must or may be shared under CDR:
- Information about interest rates and interest payments associated with an STA product may be captured under the banking designation instrument. For example:
- If information about the interest rate associated with an STA product is about the person to whom the product is being supplied (i.e. the account holder), this information may be captured by Section 6 or Section 7 of the banking designation instrument
- If information about the interest rate is considered information about the product itself, this information may be captured by Section 8 of the banking designation instrument
- In relation to whether information about interest rates associated with an STA product may be considered required or voluntary product data under the CDR Rules, data holders may wish to consider:
- Whether the interest rate on an STA product could be considered information about the characteristics of the product, meaning it may be considered 'product specific data' under clause 3.1 of Schedule 3 to the CDR Rules (e.g. 'required product data' under paragraph 3.1(1)(d))
- If the interest rate data is not considered ‘required product data’, whether it could still be considered ‘voluntary product data’ under clause 3.1(2) of Schedule 3 to the CDR Rules meaning a data holder could share the data under CDR (but would not be obliged to do so)
- In relation to whether information about interest rates and interest payments associated with an STA product may be considered required or voluntary consumer data under the CDR Rules, data holders may wish to consider:
- Whether the STA account holder would be a ‘CDR consumer’ for the interest rate/payment information (as required by clause 3.2(b) of Schedule 3 to the CDR Rules).
Comments
2 comments
Despite of the fact that statutory trust account (STA) product within the scope, many banks don't show trust account in the list to select for CDR connection.
Is there anyway, someone can escalate to banks (data holders). Very annoying as the staff members don't understand the ask. Frustrating for the trust account holders as they can't conenct the Statutory trust account for bank feeds. CBA is a classic example.
Thank you for this comment. While an STA product will generally be considered an in-scope product for CDR, there are other factors a data holder will need to consider in assessing whether information associated with a specific STA product must or may be shared under CDR. A summary of relevant factors is included in the above guidance.
Entities may also be granted exemptions from CDR obligations in relation to specified products under s56GD of the Competition and Consumer Act. We note that the entity highlighted above has received a potentially related exemption. If you remain concerned that a specific in-scope product is not being made available please contact us via accc-cdr@accc.gov.au.
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