U.S. MSB Daily News
USMSB.com – Mastercard is making a fresh play for Australia’s small-business market, launching Open Finance Business Solutions, a new suite of tools that uses real-time, permissioned data-sharing to help SMEs onboard faster, run “smarter” payments, automate insights, and potentially land fairer lending outcomes.
The pitch lands as many Australian SMEs are still battling cash-flow pressure, tight credit, and clunky onboarding/compliance processes, Mastercard says.
Mastercard is also leaning on survey data from its Rise of Open Banking Report, which found 92% of Australian businesses believe open banking will be essential to “future-proof” their organizations—citing time savings, richer real-time data, and improved funding access.
And the economic upside could be huge: Australia’s Productivity Commission has said a mature data-sharing regime could deliver productivity gains worth up to $10 billion a year.
What Mastercard is actually launching
Mastercard says it’s an Accredited Data Recipient (unrestricted) in Australia and uses a Business Consumer Disclosure Consent (BCDC) model—described as an ABN validation service plus an end-to-end consent platform—to help businesses securely access open banking and accelerate onboarding.
In its own materials, Mastercard says the platform’s capabilities span: business lending (using consented banking data for underwriting), business accounting (real-time transaction feeds), payments & loyalty (verification and aggregation), onboarding/underwriting, and AML compliance & verification integrations aimed at meeting AML/KYB obligations with less friction.
Mastercard’s Brenton Charnley said “real-time access” and automation can help SMEs save time and money by reducing friction across onboarding, payments, accounting, and lending.
One partner, Thriday, says it’s using open banking transaction data to automate bank feeds and simplify accounting workflows for small businesses.
Why MSBs should care
Open data + payments stack = stickier platforms: When accounting, payments, verification, and lending ride the same rails, SMEs get fewer reasons to switch providers—and MSBs face new competition on workflow, not just price.
KYB/AML efficiency becomes a product feature: Mastercard is explicitly tying open finance tools to faster onboarding while meeting AML/KYB obligations, raising the bar for verification speed and auditability.
Underwriting shifts toward consented cash-flow data: Real-time banking data can reshape how lenders and platforms judge “thin-file” businesses—and how quickly approvals happen.
Source: Reporting originally published by Open Banking Expo, “Mastercard launches Open Finance Business Solutions for Australian SMEs” , December 12, 2025.
U.S. MSB Daily News
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