Bank unveils updates to its CommBank App v5, AI Innovations
Commonwealth Bank has unveiled significant updates to its flagship CommBank app.
CommBank app version 5 usage soars
The CommBank app version 5 release, launched in May, has garnered immense popularity among both retail and business customers for its more personalised content and dynamic navigation.
Since its release, more than 300,000 additional customers have joined the platform, bringing the total unique users, from 7.8 million in June, to an impressive 8.1m as of October. Daily logins have surged to more than 11 million, up 33% compared to the previous year, with the average customer accessing the app 41 times a month.
CommBank customers are increasingly using the app for financial management, engaging with money management features more than 3 million times a month. The app now facilitates approximately $2.5bn in payments daily, which is a substantial 23% increase on the prior year. Business customers, leveraging the profile switch feature, are spending 20% more time on the app. The CommBank app now also accounts for nearly a quarter of all CommSec accounts opened.
“The new functionality, design and addition of new services, such as CommSec share trading and our CommBank Yello customer recognition program, have proved very popular with our record number of digitally active customers,” said Matt Comyn (pictured above), CommBank CEO, in a media release.
CommBank Yello
CommBank Yello, now one of Australia’s largest customer recognition programs, has expanded its eligibility to 8 million customers in November. This innovative program offers cashbacks, discounts, prize draws, and exclusive experiences, contributing approximately $400m in value back to customers annually. The program aims to deepen customer relationships by providing personalised rewards based on banking activities.
Business banking on the rise
Digital engagement in business banking has seen a surge, particularly with the introduction of profile switching in app v5. This feature allows seamless transitions between personal and business accounts, resulting in a 20% increase in app usage for active customers.
In the first quarter, digital services drove the opening of nearly 1,000 new business transaction accounts daily, totaling 74,000 accounts between July 1 and Sept. 30, marking a 23% year-on-year increase.
Business transaction accounts have witnessed a 9% YoY growth, and business lending is outpacing system growth, with a 12% increase YoY.
Recent developments at the Business Bank included the launch of Smart Real Estate Payments, designed to streamline rental payments and enhance customer experience, and a collaboration with Pairtree Intelligence, winner of the x15 Xccelerate startup program, streamlining integration with over 100 AgTech companies to provide comprehensive reporting and insights to agribusinesses, government, and researchers.
AI, tech developments, and scams
With the increasing demand for digital services, CommBank is scaling its technology capabilities to support a surge in app log-ins, a 23% YoY increase in app-initiated transactions, and the processing of 3,500 transactions per second at peak times.
The bank is also investing more than $750m annually in AI to combat financial crime, cyber threats, and fraud. This investment has empowered the bank’s technology defenses to scan 360,000 interactions per second with advanced detection logic, successfully dismantling 2,275 phishing sites in the last fiscal year, and achieving a 70% reduction in cryptocurrency investment scams through new preventive measures.
In the field of AI, the bank has made significant strides, implementing more than 50 diverse AI use cases, submitting 50,000 lines of AI-generated code into production, and boosting engagement by 50% through AI-powered tiles in the app compared to non-AI counterparts.
CommBank’s tech investment and focus on AI resulted in the bank debuting at number one in the Evident global AI rankings for Asia Pacific and sixth globally.
“Investing in products, services, and experiences that our customers want is critical to our strategy of building tomorrow’s bank today,” Comyn said. “As the trusted partner of one in three Australians and a quarter of all businesses, our clear goal is to strengthen and deepen the relationships with all of our customers. We want all customers to feel recognised and see unique value from banking with us.”
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