CBA and Microsoft deepens Gen AI partnership

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) today announced it is deepening its existing partnership with Microsoft after signing a new ‘letter of intent’ to work together on a range of initiatives to deliver more for customers. 

Under the extended partnership, CBA will work with Microsoft to drive greater customer benefits through wider adoption of generative AI (Gen AI) and ongoing cyber security initiatives. 

Key elements of the partnership include delivering: 

•  Superior customer experiences – including developing a CommBank Copilot to resolve customer queries faster and help customers better understand their money;
• Customer safety – sharing intelligence to enhance cyber security and developing tools for CBA business customers to help them better protect themselves;
  
• Sovereign capability – working together to develop cyber skills capability to help Australia keep pace globally on artificial intelligence;
• People experience – developing Copilots to help team members use Generative AI to better respond to customer needs;
• Engineering excellence – increasing collaboration between engineering teams through AI to share knowledge and solutions to deliver more for customers. 

Gavin Munroe, CBA’s Group Executive, Technology and Group Chief Information Officer, said engineers from Microsoft’s Seattle headquarters had already started working with CBA on a set of experiments with real life use cases to improve our customers’ experience. 

“Working in partnership with Microsoft, alongside other external partners, gives us the opportunity to access the global expertise in a range of areas so we can deliver more for our customers – including the incredibly fast-moving area of generative AI,” said Mr Munroe.

“Through our ongoing partnership, we’ll be able to deliver technology that will allow customers to interact with CBA seamlessly and resolve queries faster than ever before. We also see this as an opportunity to work together with leading global technology teams to ensure CBA’s safety and security is constantly upgraded and improved, to keep pace with the evolving threat landscape.”

Steven Worrall, Managing Director, Microsoft Australia and New Zealand, said: “We are very excited to strengthen our partnership with CommBank, helping it set new benchmarks in customer and employee experiences, operational efficiency and innovation. Microsoft will continue working closely with CommBank to realise AI’s full potential in line with the bank’s strategy to deliver world-leading digital experiences and technology.

“Our collaboration will also go beyond immediate business outcomes, addressing critical societal challenges through enhanced cybersecurity and sovereign capability development. Together, we aim to not only enhance the security posture of CommBank and its customers but also increase Australia’s resilience against evolving cyber threats. This partnership underscores our dedication to fostering a safer, more secure digital environment for all Australians.”

Today’s announcement strengthens the collaboration between the two companies from a Generative AI perspective. The bank is already leveraging the generative AI–powered Copilot for Microsoft 365 to simplify internal operations as well as GitHub Copilot, with the goal of delivering code faster and freeing up time for more creative work.

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