From 13 July, Non-Bank Lenders Have to Open Their Books

From 13 July, hundreds of non-bank lenders in Australia will be required to publish their product data in a standardised digital format for the first time. It is the biggest expansion of borrower transparency since open banking launched for the major banks in 2020.

The Consumer Data Right, which already covers the big four and most authorised deposit-taking institutions, is expanding to the non-bank lending sector. Non-bank lenders hold 6% of the financial system's assets and serve roughly two million Australians. Until now, comparing a car loan or personal loan from a non-bank lender to one from a bank meant collecting PDFs, reading product disclosure statements, or calling up and asking. That changes in six weeks.

What's happening and when

The rollout moves in stages.

From 13 July 2026, all qualifying non-bank lenders must publish product data: rates, fees, terms, and eligibility criteria, in a machine-readable format that comparison tools and brokers can access via API. The thresholds are specific. Initial providers hold more than $10 billion in resident loans and finance leases. Large providers hold more than $1 billion and serve more than 1,000 customers. That captures the lenders most borrowers actually deal with.

From 9 November 2026, consumer data sharing kicks in for the largest non-bank lenders. With your consent, your actual account data, including balances, repayment history, and transaction records, can be shared securely with an accredited third party. No more emailing bank statements. No more screen scraping, where you hand over your login credentials so a comparison site can read your account. The data moves through API, encrypted and consented.

Large providers follow on 10 May 2027.

What's covered, and what's not

The products in scope include personal loans, car finance, and buy now, pay later accounts. Australians committed $9.8 billion to personal fixed-term loans in the March quarter alone, with $4.7 billion of that going to road vehicles. That is real volume sitting inside a system that, until now, has had no standardised way to compare it.

Some products are excluded from this wave: consumer leases, reverse mortgages, margin loans, and non-standard vehicle finance, which covers heavy equipment, trucks, and specialist asset lending. If you're financing a CNC machine or an excavator through a non-bank lender, this round doesn't touch your sector yet.

What this means for borrowers

For anyone with a car loan or personal loan through a non-bank lender, this is practical. You will be able to see how your current deal stacks up without doing the legwork yourself. Comparison platforms and brokers will have standardised data from both banks and non-banks for the first time, which means the shortlist they present gets wider and more accurate.

The government also cut the mandatory data retention period from seven years to two, specifically to lower the compliance cost for the 522 businesses in the non-depository financing sector. That is a deliberate choice to keep smaller lenders in the system rather than pricing them out with infrastructure costs.

What to do with this

Nothing changes today. But from mid-July, the information cost of comparing a non-bank loan to a bank loan drops to zero.

If you took out a car loan or personal loan through a non-bank lender in the last couple of years, the rate you were offered was based on that lender's own pricing, with no easy way to benchmark it against the wider market. From 13 July, that benchmark exists. When comparison tools start pulling in non-bank product data alongside bank data, you will be able to see where your current rate sits without making a phone call.

The practical move: mark the date. When the product data goes live in mid-July, check what's available. Not because your current deal is necessarily bad, but because the cost of checking just disappeared.

This article is general information only and is not financial advice.