Australia: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission accepted court-enforceable undertaking from Equifax following investigation over alleged exclusive dealing in income verification data

On 17 December 2025, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) accepted a court-enforceable undertaking under Section 87B of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) from Equifax Australasia Workforce Solutions, effective from 16 December 2025 until 16 December 2028. Under the undertaking, Equifax committed that future agreements to obtain payroll and superannuation data for its Verification Exchange service will be non-exclusive, will not restrict data providers from supplying data to other income verification service providers, and will not condition any payment on exclusive supply. Equifax also undertook to implement a competition and consumer law compliance program. The ACCC stated that these commitments followed its investigation under Section 47 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) into Equifax’s conduct. The investigation examined Equifax’s Verification Exchange service and its data supply arrangements, including agreements entered into with 11 data holders in Australia between 2019 and 2024. The ACCC was concerned that these agreements prevented data holders from supplying payroll and superannuation data to other suppliers of income verification services, including a 30 September 2021 agreement with SuperChoice Services Pty Ltd containing exclusivity and revenue-sharing provisions.