The government has accepted the recommendations of a review of the Consumer Data Right that called for the rollout of the system to be put on hold while steps are taken to improve data quality and security, and increase awareness and take-up. The Minster for Financial Services Stephen Jones announced yesterday that the government would “pause” the expansion of CDR into superannuation, insurance and telecommunications. The government will continue the expansion into non-bank lending but it will be the only area of expansion for at least the next two years. CDR currently operates in the banking and energy sectors. And despite having introduced legislation to add action initiation (including payment initiation) to the system, Jones said such developments would be subject to a strategic assessment at the end of next year. Last year’s Statutory Review of the Consumer Data Right, conducted by retired senior public servant Elizabeth Kelly, recommended that improvements to CDR functionality and data quality should be the government’s priority, ahead of rolling the system out to other industry sectors. Kelly said submissions to her review cited poor data quality and delays in data being received.  “It will take a concerted effort by all participants in the CDR ecosystem to work collectively to resolve data quality issues as they arise,” she said. Kelly’s comments about data quality were echoed in an ACCC report this year, which said the poor quality of some of the data was “a concern”. Kelly also recommended that there be greater visibility of system objectives and success measures to provide greater confidence to participants. And she called for the introduction of an initiative like the UK’s Open UP Challenge, which promotes the development of use cases. In another report on CDR, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner said CDR privacy safeguards were not up to scratch. It found numerous instances of non-compliance among accredited entities. Jones said: “We want to do the work to get it right, to minimise the risks and maximise the benefits and to have clear use cases identified so that public and private investment can be properly assessed.” He said other priorities would be to improve cyber security in the system and to increase consumer awareness of CDR. Some in the industry will see the decision to delay the introduction of action initiation as a mistake, arguing it is a game changing development that could create more interest and activity. Action initiation through CDR allows a consumer to consent to an “accredited action initiator” initiating actions beyond requests for data sharing. This could involve third parties switching accounts or products, making payments or updating contact details across multiple accounts on a consumer’s behalf. The addition of action initiation to the CDR was the key recommendation of an earlier CDR review, the Inquiry into Future Directions for the Consumer Data Right, which was headed by lawyer Scott Farrell and reported last in 2021.