Australia’s P&N Group partners fintech Frollo

Australian customer-owned banking organisation P&N Group, which operates under the retail brands P&N Bank and bcu, has formed a new partnership with Open Banking fintech Frollo.

P&N Group chief transformation officer Phil Thistlethwaite said that its partnership with Frollo is the first step in a “strategic and phased approach” to realise the benefits of Open Banking for its customers.

Through access to Frollo’s Consumer Data Right (CDR) gateway, the group plans to initially offer customers a “more holistic and enriching” digital experience, leveraging their personal financial management (PFM) platform to complement its existing suite of digital banking tools, with the platform due to launch in 2022.

Thistlethwaite said: “Our five-year transformation journey focuses on making banking simpler for our customers, and that includes their ability to manage their overall financial wellbeing. Open Banking is a key building block to delivering more innovative banking offerings to our customers.

“By offering customer-centric technology that solves key financial pain points, such as money management and the home loan application process, not only will we make it simple to do banking with us, we will also make it simple for our customers to get ahead.”

He added that consumer trust is a “key element” in the take-up of this new way of banking and that partnering with a trusted organisation such as Frollo “sets us on the right path from the outset”.

“As people become more familiar with the technology and trust in the CDR grows, they will ultimately have more control and access to tailored information that will help optimise their financial wellbeing,” he added.

Frollo CEO Gareth Gumbley said: “It’s great that a customer-owned banking group like P&N Group leads the way by embracing Open Banking to help their customers improve their financial wellbeing.

“We’re proud to be able to support the group on this journey by providing our Open Banking technology. This is exactly what we want to see happening with the Consumer Data Right in Australia and we can’t wait to bring open banking to life for P&N Bank and bcu customers.”