HSBC fined over mortgage and card data disclosures

HSBC Bank has been fined $33,000 by the ACCC for allegedly providing incomplete and inaccurate home loan and credit card data to users seeking to compare products.

HSBC Bank has been fined $33,000 by the ACCC for alleged failures in data disclosures. Picture: Jeremy Piper

HSBC Bank Australia has been fined $33,000 by the competition regulator for allegedly providing incomplete and inaccurate home loan and credit card data to users seeking to compare products under the Consumer Data Right.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued two infringement notices to HSBC after it investigated claims the bank breached its data sharing obligations on mortgage interest rates and credit card balances in response to CDR requests.

“If accurate home loan rates are not provided, product data users are unable to present accurate comparisons to consumers. This has the potential to lead to consumers making decisions based on incorrect information,” ACCC commissioner Peter Crone said.

“For the CDR to be effective, it is critical that CDR data is of high quality. This means that product data and consumer data – which a consumer has consented to share – must be accurate, up-to-date, complete, and in the required format,” he said.

“The value of CDR and the importance of data quality is particularly relevant in the current economic climate where Australians are increasingly concerned with cost-of-living pressures and mortgage interest rates.“

CDR laws stand behind the open banking concept designed to give customers the power to safely share their personal data from banks and other companies.

The regime is meant to fuel competition by making it easier for people to compare different products and services across providers and switch if they find a better deal.

But banks have been accused of dragging their feet in implementing the regime since its introduction in 2019.

The lack of urgency, compounded by instances of banks providing incorrect information that make comparisons impossible, has delayed practical benefits for consumers.

Between February 20 and April 25 last year, HSBC allegedly did not disclose all its fixed rate home loan interest rate details in response to CDR data requests, the regulator said.

Some of the rates it provided did not match the featured rates advertised on its website.

HSBC – which has a 1.7 per cent share and a 1.4 per cent stake of the home loans and credit card market in the country, respectively – paid the fines last month, according to the ACCC website.

The ACCC, however, said the payment of the fines was not an admission of a breach.

The regulator said HSBC co-operated with its investigation and had taken steps to improve its compliance with the consumer data right by fixing “data quality issues” identified by the ACCC.

A media representative for HSBC confirmed the bank had co-operated fully with the regulator’s investigation. She declined to comment on specific details regarding CDR data requests and quality control measures.

“We will continue to invest and enhance our CDR program,” she said.

The ACCC said it had also investigated claims the bank had failed to accurately share customer credit card account balance data after receiving CDR data requests from January 9 to May 27 last year.

Mr Crone warned all CDR participants that noncompliance with CDR rules will result in scrutiny and potential enforcement action with “serious consequences”.

In 2022, Bank of Queensland and ING Bank (Australia) also paid infringement notices over CDR rules, according to the regulator’s website.