• CommBank app 4.0 offers individually-tailored services and alerts
• Customer use of digital banking hits new record of 7 million
• Digital takes lion’s share of overall transactions, up to 63 per cent
• KPMG forecasts transformation of banking services by 2030

Commonwealth Bank has today unveiled the latest version of Australia’s number one banking app, CommBank app 4.0, along with record breaking digital banking transaction and customer numbers, and a new KMPG report - The Future of Digital Banking, revealing the emerging banking-tech trends for 2030.

Australia’s #1 banking app gets even better

First launched in 2013, the latest CommBank app offers greater personalisation, tailored specifically to the individual needs of each customer, with personal cash flow management and smart alerts all aimed at keeping more money in customers’ wallets - including Smart Alerts, Benefit Finder, Goal Tracker, Cash Flow View and Spend Tracker.

Angus Sullivan, Group Executive of Retail Banking Services, Commonwealth Bank, said CommBank app 4.0 is simple, smart and secure, created with a combination of cutting edge machine learning technology, deep data analytics and behavioural science, delivering highly personalised, smart banking features.

“The CommBank app has been helping our customers manage their finances for close to a decade. We’re now approaching the 2020s with the most individually tailored and sophisticated adaptation of digital banking in Australia.

“This year the CommBank app will send over 3 billion personalised messages to customers using 157 billion data points and 200 advanced machine learning models through our innovative customer engagement engine.

“This is designed to give our 5.6 million app users greater control and visibility of their cash flow, including real-time insights into their spending behaviour, to help them achieve their goals and improve their financial wellbeing,” said Mr Sullivan.

Digital banking soars to record heights

CBA today revealed that digital banking is accelerating:

• 7 million users now digitally active - up 500,000 over the past 12 months (from 6.5 million in FY18),
• CommBank app users increased to 5.6 million (up from 5 million in FY18),
• Daily app logons have hit 6.2 million logons per day, an increase of 1.1 million (from 5.1 million in FY18), and
• Digital transactions make up 63 per cent of total transactions by value (up from 59 per cent in FY18).

CBA has also revealed digital wallet - mobile phones and devices capable of making debit and credit card payments - numbers for the first time, with 2.6 million active CBA cards identified through CBA merchant terminals in FY19, 1.2 million more than its closet competitor at 1.4 million.

“We are focused on delivering great banking services that suit our customers, whether that is in branch, on the phone, online or on mobile.

“Our ambition is to offer our customers the number-one digital banking experience in the world combined with branches and call centres offering a better proposition than any other in the market,” said Mr Sullivan.

KPMG forecasts complete transformation of banking services by 2030

The latest figures and the launch of CommBank app 4.0 underpin the findings of new research undertaken by KPMG who predict, in their newly-released report The Future of Digital Banking, that by 2030 Australians will be using “super-apps” that will make banking seamless and invisible to everyday customers.

The report forecasts that:

• Data will allow banks to build a 360-degree view of customers, with individually tailored services offered through a platform and driven by artificial intelligence and robotic automation;
• Customers will choose a whole range of lifestyle products and services from different providers with banks orchestrating these various alliances and capabilities through their platforms, either owned by them or licensed from others;
• Biometrics such as facial and voice recognition will have completely replaced other forms of digital security like passwords and PINs;
• Secure voice commands and facial expressions taking over from point of sale plastic card tap and pay sales;
• AI, machine learning and data analysis will enable banks to proactively switch customer subscriptions with non-banking services to automatically take advantage of peak pricing and volume discounts.

Mr Sullivan said CBA had contemplated more than ten years ago the need to innovate and provide digital solutions for customers that they not only wanted but also that they would need. CBA used predictive trends and early digital banking data to pre-empt those needs.

“Australia is amongst the most advanced countries in the world in digital adoption and we’re proud to have played our part in ensuring that we stay at the forefront of this innovative approach for many years to come.

“This report, released by KPMG today, is a clear indication of both the challenges and the opportunities facing banks as we increasingly shift to the cyber-services of tomorrow.

“Part of that world is already taking shape today and as a digital bank with an unparalleled track record of innovation, we are determined to embrace this force of disruption and lead it to the benefit of all of our customers,” said Mr Sullivan.

Ian Pollari, report author and Head of Banking and Co-Head, Global Fintech, KPMG, said: “Technology will continue to fundamentally re-shape how we work, live, play and how we wish to manage our finances. By 2030, leading digital banks will help consumers better manage their increasingly complex, fragmented lives – for their financial needs and beyond – facilitating their lifestyle needs and desired experiences.”

Download the KPMG report - The Future of Digital Banking here.