Beyond Bank Australia becomes first branch-based lender to bring Open Banking to the front line

Beyond Bank Australia, in partnership with NextGen, Australia’s leading lending technology provider, has become the first branch-based lender to bring Open Banking capabilities directly into the first-party lending experience. Building on the success of its Open Banking rollout in the broker market, Beyond Bank is now extending this transformative capability to its retail branch network — empowering lenders and customers alike through a secure, smarter, faster, and more personalised application journey.

As an early adopter of Open Banking innovation, Beyond Bank has long recognised the power of Open Banking regulated by Australia’s Consumer Data Right (CDR) framework to improve lending outcomes. This latest technology investment within the first-party channel marks a significant milestone — not only for Beyond Bank, but for the Australian retail lending industry as a whole.

A new conversation in the branch and across the mobile channel

Traditionally, customers seeking a home loan, car loan, personal loan, or credit card at a branch have been asked to gather and share months of bank statements, payslips, and supporting documents — a process that can be time-consuming and frustrating. That experience is now fundamentally changing.

With this new capability, Beyond Bank lenders can issue a digital consent request directly to the customer during their branch appointment. With just a few simple clicks on their device, the customer authorises the secure sharing of their financial data — including assets, liabilities, income, and expense details held with Beyond Bank or other financial institutions. That data is then automatically retrieved and pre-populated into the new lending application within minutes.

The result is a highly personalised, lower-effort experience for customers — and a dramatically more efficient workflow for branch lenders, who can focus their conversations on understanding customer needs rather than manually gathering documentation.

“Open banking has already demonstrated its value in the broker market, and we are proud to be the first branch-based lender to bring this capability to our retail network,” said Wendy Den Hartog , Chief Operating Officer, Beyond Bank Australia. “This is about putting our customers in control of their own data and making the lending process as simple and transparent as possible. Our branch lenders can now have richer, more informed conversations — and customers can get answers faster.”

Faster assessment, smarter back-office verification

The benefits of Open Banking extend well beyond the branch counter. Back-office credit and operations teams at Beyond Bank will also see a step change in how applications are assessed. Verified data insights, now replace what were once manual, multi-screen processes, compressing some assessment activities from days to minutes.

Critically, because Beyond Bank has now activated Open Banking across both its broker, branch and channels, all applications – regardless of origin — will benefit from the same unified decisioning experience. This consistency in verification and credit assessment provides a sustainable foundation for growth across all lending products, including mortgages, car loans, unsecured personal loans, and credit cards.

The data speaks for itself

NextGen’s platform data underscores the momentum and quality advantage Open Banking is delivering across the market. In the last financial year, almost 120,000 consumers shared their data with their mortgage broker. The use of Open Banking in loan applications is growing rapidly, increasing towards 10% of all broker originated loans.

The quality impact is equally compelling. Across the broader market, applications submitted using Open Banking data are approved an average of 11% faster than those without. For refinance applications specifically, Open Banking-supported loans are approved up to 21% faster — a direct result of higher data quality, fewer missing information requests, and cleaner application packages reaching assessment teams.

Among major lenders, the data is even more striking. One major bank’s refinance applications processed with Open Banking data were assessed 49% faster than those submitted without. Another saw a 38% improvement in time-to-yes for refinance applications when Open Banking data was used.

“Beyond Bank has been a standout innovator in Open Banking since day one,” said Mike Ponsonby, Head of Lender Partnerships, NextGen. “Extending Open Banking into the branch channel is a genuine first for Australia’s retail lending market. The data quality and speed improvements we’re seeing industry-wide confirm that this is not just a better process — it’s a fundamentally better outcome for customers and lenders alike. We’re proud to power this next chapter for Beyond Bank.”