The chief executives of Commonwealth Bank of Australia and NAB have called out technology giants for anti-competitive behaviour during a two day senate hearing.
All CEOs of the four major banks fronted the House Standing Committee on Economics last week to answer questions about consumer issues including scams, debanking and market competition.
CBA’s CEO Matt Comyn told the committee he believed that among “some of the big tech players, there are no greater examples of gatekeepers and sort of quasi-monopolistic powers being leveraged” and of “freerid[ing] off infrastructure and mak very little contribution to it.
Adding it was a topic of “particular” interest, Comyn said he would like the “opportunity to engage more on it”.
“It’s a complex area, but there is real urgency on the licencing and protections around consumers,” he said.
“In my view, there’s absolutely no doubt [technology companies are] under-regulated and there’s all sorts of creative definitions being invented by some of those providers to try and circumvent some of the new legislation”.
Comyn added the payments reform and legislation, unveiled in June, “is some of the most important reform that’s going on both to ensure the safety and security of the payments system”.
NAB CEO Ross McEwan made similar remarks, stating the “biggest player” in ‘big tech’ was Apple Pay.
“If it is a payments player, they should be covered under the payments regulation,” McEwan said.
“If they’re a credit player, they should be under the credit regulation, making the playing field level for all.
“Those big fintechs have huge amounts of capital. If they need to go in to get a licence – well, they can afford to get them as they choose to.
“But I think we should not let them sit around the sides of a good regulatory framework and chip away at bits that they like, and not be part of it.”
A regulatory framework for payments covering payment options modernisation, systems and rails; and greater use of technology such as Digital ID and artificial intelligence, was released last month, with banks and fintechs throwing support behind the plan.
At the time, treasurer Jim Chalmers said the strategic plan acknowledged digital products “are changing the way we make payments and the way businesses provide payments services.
The EU is already looking into Apple’s mobile payment system.
The European Commission said the tech giant has been making it hard for competitors to access its near-field communication (NFC), technology – a battle Australian banks previously fought and lost.
Such restrictions mean competitors struggle to develop their own services to run on Apple devices.