Women in Open Banking ANZ has launched!
The launch of Women in Open Banking ANZ (WiOB ANZ) coincided with celebrations for the 4th anniversary of Australia’s Consumer Data Right (CDR) at the start of July 2024.
As a satellite community of Open Finance ANZ, WiOB ANZ’s purpose is to provide a platform for women who work in open banking, or who are interested in open banking, to connect with like-minded peers, amplify their voices and ideas, and grow their knowledge and network.
Helping to get this new initiative up and running, Open Finance ANZ’s Co-Founders — Jennifer Harrison and Brenton Charnley — were supported by an amazing team from law firm King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) and accredited data recipient Mastercard Open Banking.
Our WiOB ANZ launch event took place on Tuesday, 2 July 2024, in KWM’s beautiful Sydney offices.
We are immensely grateful to KWM’s Strategic Counsel Dr Scott Farrell, the architect of Australia’s Consumer Data Right (CDR), for agreeing to host and delivering the words of welcome. He reminded us where we’ve come from, and why we are on this journey.
Thank you also to KWM’s Senior Associate Hannah Glass, an expert lawyer in payments, fintech, blockchain technology and data, for participating in the workshop and panel.
Big thanks to Emily Deegan and the KWM events team for managing everything so smoothly behind the scenes; the communications, catering and logistics were impeccable.
Mastercard’s Senior Legal Counsel Lisa Horton, a specialist lawyer in privacy and data, led the workshop where 30 women engaged in a small group setting with three focus questions on the most noteworthy achievements of the CDR regime, the most important priorities for 2025, and the contributory role for a women’s group in helping to drive success.
Then, after a break for some delicious afternoon tea, we welcomed 40 additional guests — women and men! — for a panel discussion and networking drinks.
Thank you for joining us Max Allan, Partner at KWM, Claude Maroun, Director at Mastercard Open Banking, Rehan D’Almeida, CEO at FinTech Australia, Dan Jovevski, Founder & CEO at WeMoney, Jason Leong, Co-Founder & CEO at Pocketsmith and Jacob Parker, Founder & CEO at Fiskil.
The panel was moderated by Open Finance ANZ’s Co-Founder Jennifer Harrison, who is also a Director at Reputation Edge.
The discussion was framed as follows:
“The Consumer Data Right was envisioned as a world-first economy wide data portability law to provide consumers with choice, control and convenience. As we reach the fourth anniversary of the CDR being live in Australia, the question is: Are we there yet … and has our destination changed?”
Contributing to the informative panel discussion were expert guests Alysia Abeyratne from National Australia Bank, Danielle Smith from Xero, Hannah Glass from KWM and Dr Natalia Jevglevskaja from UNSW.
Each panellist gave examples of what’s working well, where we’re not there yet, specific themes worthy of attention, and how we should go forward from here, both tactically and strategically.
(We’ll share more information separately about the topics and takeaways from the workshop and the panel discussion.)
Helping us to connect, amplify and grow WiOB ANZ across the Tasman — we were delighted that Lisa Ibarra from Payments NZ and Vanessa Ronan-Pearce, from Payments NZ and Wych, were able to join our launch event.
Thank you to Ashima Chaudhary, Isobel Thacker and Amy McIntyre from Mastercard for your help with the workshop.
Thanks also to Alexandra Mew, Amelia Osborn, Chelsea Adams, Cristina Prazsmari, Fiona Nguyen and Mallika Sathi from Mastercard for your support of the event.
Finally, there are two very special mentions.
A lovely highlight of the launch was the moving video message from Jess Turner, EVP and Head of Global Open Banking and API at Mastercard.
She spoke from the heart about the power of open banking to improve people’s lives, especially women’s.
And none of the above would have happened without the indefatigable efforts of Mastercard’s Associate Product Specialist Joyce Xie, who was the driving force who made it all happen.
To stay connected, follow Women in Open Banking ANZ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-in-open-banking-and-finance/
Open Finance ANZ is a growing community of 1200+ entrepreneurs, innovators and technologists advancing open finance in Australia & New Zealand (ANZ) and advocating for a regulatory and technology environment that supports innovation and injects competition.
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/open-finance-anz/
