Open banking and CDR in financial services this week

Week ending 20 October 2026 · 8 sources

Equifax adds Mastercard open finance data as NZ weighs pay by bank costs

Equifax is adding consumer-permissioned insights enabled via Mastercard Open Finance for lenders and fintechs 12. New Zealand's Commerce Commission says open banking is cheaper for businesses than Visa and Mastercard debit 3.

Which way the market is moving

Equifax adds Mastercard open finance data for lenders

Equifax is expanding its open banking solutions with consumer-permissioned insights enabled via Mastercard Open Finance 12.

Equifax is expanding its open banking solutions with consumer-permissioned insights enabled via Mastercard Open Finance 1. Finextra reports the move gives lenders and fintechs more choice in the open finance provider they use 1. PYMNTS described the offer as equipping lenders with Mastercard open finance insights 2.

Coverage this week also asked whether open banking expansion is altering the investment case for Equifax 7. The reports do not give pricing, data coverage or volumes, so those details are not yet public in the stories given 21.

What it means: Institutions that lend can expect bureau products to carry permissioned bank data from more than one aggregator, which raises questions about consistency, consent records and model governance. Credit and risk teams should be ready to compare bureau delivered cash flow data with direct aggregator feeds.

Questions for vendors:

  1. Which open finance providers sit behind your permissioned insights, and can we choose between them?
  2. How is consumer consent captured, stored and evidenced when data reaches us through a bureau?
  3. How are cash flow attributes calculated, and are they consistent across data providers?

In the registry: Credit Sense Affordability (Credit Sense), Enrich (Bud Financial), Basiq Data (Basiq)

New Zealand tests open banking on cost and speed

New Zealand's Commerce Commission says open banking is cheaper for businesses than Visa and Mastercard debit, while Westpac NZ sees faster personal loan processing 34.

New Zealand's Commerce Commission says open banking is cheaper for businesses than Visa and Mastercard debit 3. The finding compares open banking payments with debit card rails on cost to businesses 3. In lending, Westpac NZ sees an open banking tool reducing personal loan processing time 4.

Together the two reports show open banking in New Zealand being judged on practical outcomes: cost to merchants on the payments side and speed on the credit side 43. The headlines given do not set out the figures behind either claim 43.

What it means: A regulator view that open banking payments cost businesses less than debit gives merchant acquirers and banks a reason to revisit pay by bank pricing. Lenders in Australia and New Zealand can use the Westpac NZ example to test their own loan processing times against permissioned data tools.

Questions for vendors:

  1. What is the all-in cost per open banking payment for a merchant compared with debit card acceptance?
  2. Which New Zealand banks and APIs does your payment initiation service support?
  3. What reduction in loan processing time have your lending clients measured, and how?

In the registry: Banking API (finAPI), Credit Sense Affordability (Credit Sense), TPP Infrastructure as a Service (Enable Banking)

Payment platforms move behind a single API

Mastercard has launched a platform combining its global payments capabilities with BVNK's stablecoin infrastructure through a single API 5.

Mastercard has launched a platform that brings together its global payments capabilities with the stablecoin infrastructure of its recently acquired BVNK unit through a single API 5. At Sibos 2026, Bottomline's Edward Ireland set out how banks can harmonise fragmented payment infrastructures into unified, API-enabled ecosystems 6.

Both reports point to providers packaging several payment rails behind one integration point 56. Neither report sets out how account-to-account or open banking payments fit within these platforms 56.

What it means: Institutions planning pay by bank or PayTo work may be asked to weigh it against broader multi-rail platforms from the same providers. Architecture teams should check whether a single API reduces integration effort or simply moves lock-in to one supplier.

Questions for vendors:

  1. Does your single API support account-to-account payment initiation, and in which markets?
  2. How are fraud, disputes and reconciliation handled consistently across fiat, card and stablecoin rails?
  3. What would it take to move one rail to another provider without rebuilding our integration?

In the registry: Banking API (finAPI), Data APIs (Atto), TPP Infrastructure as a Service (Enable Banking)

Regulation and supervision

Sources

  1. Finextra (retail banking), 2026-10-16: Equifax taps Mastercard Open Finance to give lenders more consumer-permissioned insights
  2. PYMNTS.com, 2026-10-16: Equifax Equips Lenders With Mastercard Open Finance Insights
  3. Interest.co.nz, 2026-10-15: Commerce Commission says open banking cheaper for businesses than Visa & Mastercard debit
  4. Interest.co.nz, 2026-10-15: Westpac NZ sees open banking tool reducing personal loan processing time
  5. Finextra (payments), 2026-10-15: Mastercard and BVNK bring fiat and stablecoin payments together in global money platform
  6. Finextra, 2026-10-14: From Single Rails to Full Ecosystems: How Payments Have Transformed
  7. Yahoo Finance, 2026-10-17: Is Open Banking Expansion Altering The Investment Case For Equifax (EFX)?
  8. Forbes Australia, 2026-10-13: Qippay’s mission to reform finance through open banking

About open banking and cdr software

Open banking vendors handle consented data sharing under the Consumer Data Right and open banking regimes: data holder obligations, data access and consent.

Browse the products in the registry

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