Auckland, Monday, 20 November 2023: In a win for New Zealand borrowers and lenders, Centrix will be switching on live bank data feeds, powered by global data aggregator Envestnet®| Yodlee®.
Centrix is New Zealand’s leading credit bureau, with account payment data and credit information that covers 95% of New Zealanders as well as most credit-active companies.
Envestnet | Yodlee is a leading global data aggregation and analytics platform for digital financial services. It is playing a key role in New Zealand’s emerging open banking regime and in Australia it is an active and accredited Consumer Data Right participant.
With the help of Envestnet | Yodlee, and the informed permission of the borrower, Centrix can now access transaction data directly from the borrower’s bank account to support up-to-date debt servicing and affordability checks based on actual income and expenditure, rather than self-reported estimates or proxies.
This proactive move by Centrix delivers several benefits to both borrowers and lenders and is an important step in ensuring Centrix remains at the cutting edge of credit reporting and decisioning tools for lenders, brokers and landlords in the New Zealand market.
By permitting direct access to bank data, borrowers can save time and hassle when completing loan applications, and lenders can remain compliant with the enhanced consumer protections legislated by the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act, which requires lenders to determine the affordability and suitability of a loan.
Monika Lacey, Chief Operating Officer at Centrix, said: “Our clients will start to see some specific benefits coming through such as a broad range of income and verification solutions, data and analytics to support new customer segments, and future-proofed lending that will harness open banking in New Zealand when that goes live.”
Taner Uzelakcil, Director of Business Development A/NZ at Envestnet | Yodlee, said: “We’re looking forward to working with Centrix to go deep with data and deliver global open banking trends and insights as well as world-class products and services designed especially for the New Zealand market.”
The importance of this move by Centrix is underscored by the current financial climate in New Zealand, as many Kiwi households are adjusting to the economic downturn, cost of living pressures, and higher interest rates. There is a strong mutual need for lenders and borrowers to protect themselves from bad debt.
“Our core mission is to help credit providers to monitor their risk and protect their cash flows,” said Ms Lacey.
“With the help of Envestnet | Yodlee giving us access to thought leadership and global experience, as well as direct access to bank transactions, Centrix can improve its credit scoring to help lenders better understand their risk and manage their cash flows. We’ll also be able to improve our fraud and transaction monitoring tools for additional compliance benefits.”
ENDS
About Centrix
Centrix is New Zealand’s locally owned credit bureau. Founded by industry experts and specialists, it has been helping Kiwi businesses of all sizes since 2009 to make quick and confident risk assessments.
Centrix has the most comprehensive account payments data and credit information on 95 percent of New Zealanders, or four million consumers, helping business of all sizes make informed decisions about credit risk.
If New Zealanders want to know their credit score, they can apply to receive a copy of their credit report, free of charge, at www.centrix.co.nz.
Contact: Adam Warin | 021 029 01388
About Envestnet® | Yodlee®
Envestnet® | Yodlee® provides trusted access to financial data & analytics. Our innovative products and services are trusted by more than 1,400 financial institutions and fintech companies worldwide. Our APIs deliver data from over 17,000 global data sources, so you can easily get bank, credit card, investment, loans, rewards and other financial account data you need to give your customers actionable insights.
In Australia, we are an active and unrestricted Accredited Data Recipient authorised by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission under the Consumer Data Right to provide access to open banking and open energy data sets. We can also deliver access to non-regulated data in Australia and New Zealand.
Envestnet refers to the family of operating subsidiaries of the public holding company, Envestnet, Inc. (NYSE: ENV)
Contact: https://www.yodlee.com/au/company/contact-us
Envestnet and Centrix are separate and unaffiliated firms. This release should not be construed as a recommendation or endorsement of any particular product, service, or firm.