Mastercard has launched a new range of tools that deploy real-time data sharing to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Australia achieve sustainable growth.
‘Open Finance Business Solutions’ enables faster customer onboarding, “smarter” payments, automated insights and fairer lending opportunities, according to Mastercard, at a time when many SMEs face cash-flow pressures, limited access to credit, and complex onboarding and compliance processes.
Mastercard’s Rise of Open Banking Report found that 92% of Australian businesses believe Open Banking will be essential to “future-proof” their organisations, citing time savings, richer real-time data and better access to funding as among the main benefits.
Australia’s Productivity Commission has estimated that a mature data-sharing regime could unlock up to $10 billion in annual gains.
Brenton Charnley of Mastercard Australia
In Australia, Mastercard is an accredited data recipient at the unrestricted level, meaning it uses the Business Consumer Disclosure Consent, which is a purpose-built ABN validation service and end-to-end consent platform, to enable businesses to securely access Open Banking.
By deploying this service alongside Mastercard’s global network connecting partners with nearly every bank in Australia, Open Finance Business Solutions provides tools that are tailored to “local business needs”.
For example, the platform enables lenders to assess a business’ financial health using real-time, consented banking data, thereby resulting in more accurate lending decisions.
“Real-time access to business data and automation are critical for SMEs to save time and ultimately money,” said Brenton Charnley, vice president and head of Open Finance, Australasia at Mastercard.
“By reducing friction in onboarding, payments, business accounting and lending, we are helping businesses boost productivity and focus on what matters — serving their customers and growing sustainably.”
He added: “In a time when working smarter is more important than working harder, Open Finance is a key lever for economic efficiency and resilience.”
One of Mastercard’s partners, Thriday, is using Open Banking transaction data to automate bank feeds to simplify business accounting.
“We believe that empowering small businesses with real-time financial data is the key to unlocking productivity and growth,” said Michael Nuciforo, chief executive officer of Thriday.
“Partnering with Mastercard’s Open Finance Business Solutions allows us to streamline financial workflows and deliver smarter, faster, and fairer outcomes for Australian SMEs.”
Further reading: Mastercard unveils Mastercard Commerce Media driven by permissioned data
