Open banking on a company bank account: set up your nominated representative before you need it

If your business banks in a company or partnership name, open banking won’t work until the bank knows who is allowed to approve sharing. That person is called a nominated representative. With no nominee on file, a lender’s open banking link usually shows an empty list or an error, and a fast loan stalls. It takes about ten minutes to fix on a quiet day. In the middle of an urgent application, it can take a day or more.

This is a readiness job. Nothing is wrong, and you don’t need finance today. But open banking is one of the quickest ways for a lender to read your transactions, and this one setting decides whether it works for you on the day it counts.

Why doesn’t open banking just work for a company account?

Because a company can’t click “I agree”. A person has to do it on the company’s behalf, and the bank has to know which person.

Under the Consumer Data Right (CDR), the ACCC’s fact sheet on nominated representatives explains that non-individuals, such as companies, and partners in a partnership take part by appointing a nominated representative “to give, amend and manage authorisations on their behalf”. Banks are among the data holders that must support this.

Being a director, a signatory or a full online banking user doesn’t automatically make you that person. Many owners find this out the first time a lender sends a link, they log in, and their personal accounts appear while the business accounts don’t.

Here’s how it usually breaks down:

How the account is held	Who can approve open banking sharing	Setup needed first?
Sole trader, in your own name	You, as the account holder	Usually none
Company (Pty Ltd)	A nominated representative	Yes — nominate at least one person
Partnership	A nominated representative for the partnership	Yes
Trust with a corporate trustee	A nominated representative for the trustee company	Yes
Someone else’s account you can transact on	Possibly you, as a “secondary user”, if the bank allows it	Check with the bank

The rules are deliberately flexible, so each bank builds its own process. That’s why the steps below start with finding out how your bank does it.

Step 1 of 4: Find out how your bank handles nominations

Banks generally use one of two methods.

In online banking. An administrator on the business’s online banking opens user settings, picks a user and switches on data sharing. Westpac’s business data sharing FAQs, for example, walk an administrator through choosing a user in user administration and selecting the data-sharing option, with the user registered for security codes. Other banks have a similar switch under “manage users” or “data sharing”.

By signed authority form. Some banks, and some older business banking setups, ask the account signatories to sign an open banking data sharing authority form naming the representatives. It then has to be processed. Allow at least a day or two.

The quickest way to find out: search your bank’s help pages for “open banking business” or “nominated representative”, or ask your relationship manager.

Step 2 of 4: Nominate two people, not one

One nominee is a single point of failure. If they’re on leave, can’t get mobile reception on a job site, or have just changed phones, nobody can approve sharing.

For most small companies, the sensible pair is:

• The director who usually deals with finance, and
• A second director or partner who could step in.

Each nominee needs their own working online banking login, a mobile number the bank can send security codes to, and a basic idea of what they’re approving. If you’ve got a co-director who rarely logs in, this is a good moment to check that their access still works.

Step 3 of 4: Do a dry run before you need it

The only real proof that it works is seeing the accounts appear. Any accredited service your business already uses for CDR sharing will do. Some accounting and budgeting tools use it for bank connections. Connect, check that every business account you’d want a lender to see is listed, then withdraw the consent if you don’t need it.

As the OAIC explains in its guide to how the CDR opt-in process works, consent must be an active choice. You decide which data is shared and what it’s used for, and consent expires after 12 months unless renewed. You can also withdraw it earlier through a consumer dashboard. A dry run leaves nothing behind that you can’t switch off.

While you’re there, check:

1. Every account shows up — trading, tax savings, card settlement, any second business account.
2. Each nominee can do it, not just the one who set it up.
3. Security codes reach the right phone. A code going to an old number is a common hold-up.

Want to know how quickly your file could move once the data side is sorted? Start a 60-second enquiry — there’s no credit check when you first enquire.

Step 4 of 4: Write it down and keep it current

Add a short note to wherever you keep business admin: who the nominees are, which bank, and the date you last tested it. Then revisit it when something changes:

• A director leaves or joins. Remove or add nominees at the same time as you update ASIC and the bank signatories.
• You change banks. A new bank means a new nomination. Our guide to getting a fast loan after switching banks covers the rest of that checklist.
• A nominee’s phone number changes. Update it with the bank straight away.
• You restructure. A move from sole trader to company, or a new trust, puts accounts in a new name, so a nominee is now needed.

One more thing. At some banks, removing a nominee stops them managing sharing but doesn’t cancel arrangements they already approved. Those continue until they expire or are withdrawn. If someone leaves on bad terms, check the business’s data-sharing dashboard as well as their banking access. The OAIC’s guidance on consent and dashboards explains what each dashboard must show.

What does a lender see once sharing works?

Only what you consent to, from the accounts you select. For a business loan, that’s usually transaction history, balances and basic account details. Sharing is read-only: it doesn’t let anyone move money, and your banking password stays with your bank.

From there, the lender reads deposits, how steady they are, balances, existing repayments and dishonours. Our open banking page explains what you’re consenting to in more detail. The turnover page shows how those deposits size an unsecured loan.

What happens if it isn’t set up when a lender asks?

The loan doesn’t die. It just slows down. You have three realistic options:

• Use a bank-statement link instead. Many lenders offer a bank-statement link service that works with your normal online banking login and doesn’t rely on CDR nominations.
• Upload statements. Downloaded PDFs work, but they’re slower to verify and easier to question.
• Nominate on the spot. If your bank lets an administrator switch it on online, it might take minutes. If it needs a form, you’re waiting on processing.

Each option adds time. And time is exactly what you’re short of when a supplier wants a deposit by Friday or the ATO bill is due.

An illustrative example

Illustrative only. Two co-directors run a Geelong joinery business through a Pty Ltd. In late October, a builder offers them a fit-out contract that needs about $60k of board, hardware and a second edgebander, with the first progress claim weeks away.

The first director opens the lender’s open banking link on her phone. Her personal accounts appear. The company accounts don’t. She’s a director, a signatory and an online banking administrator, but she has never been made a nominated representative. Their bank wants a signed authority form, and the processing runs into the next business day.

The specialist suggests a bank-statement link in the meantime, and the file keeps moving. Afterwards, the directors nominate each other, run a dry run and add a line to their admin notes. The next time they need to move quickly, that step takes minutes.

How much faster does readiness make a loan?

Open banking setup speeds up only one stage: getting your transaction data to the lender. That matters, because it’s often the first thing a lender asks for. But it doesn’t replace the rest of the file.

Once the file is complete, $20k to $250k is possible same day for property-secured loans, and up to $5m is possible within 24–48 hours. For smaller unsecured amounts, same-day funding is possible. Valuations, title, payout figures and every signer’s sign-off still take time. Our page on what still takes time explains why.

If you’d like to find the other slow spots before they find you, the Speed Readiness Check takes a couple of minutes. If you use Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks, our page on sharing accounting software data covers the other data connection lenders often ask for.

Data side sorted? Find out what’s realistic

Setting up a nominated representative is the kind of job nobody thinks about until a link fails. Owners who sort it early tend to be the same owners whose files move quickly, because they’ve already thought about how their information gets from A to B. If you’re that kind of owner and there’s a purchase, contract or bill on the horizon, it’s a good time to find out what funding could look like.

The enquiry takes about 60 seconds, and there’s no credit check when you first enquire. We don’t send your details to a pile of lenders, so you won’t get a string of calls from strangers. A real person reads what you’ve sent, looks at your business’s situation and calls you to talk through a realistic pathway.

Please fill the form in accurately: your entity type, your real 12-month turnover, how long you’ve traded and roughly how much you need. Accurate details let us match the right option first time, including whether open banking or a statement link will be the faster route for you.

See if you qualify →