Commonwealth Bank has been named Australia’s most innovative financial institution and one of the three most innovative companies in the country in The Australian Financial Review’s 50 Most Innovative Companies list for 2016.

The AFR also rated Commonwealth Bank’s Property App as Best Services Innovation and the Virtual Reality Workplace took out the Best HR Innovation award.

Welcoming the award, Commonwealth Bank’s Head of Global Innovation Lab Network Tiziana Bianco said: “Ensuring relevance to our customers, against a backdrop of continuous change, requires the right culture and mindset for innovation. We provide with the best tools, techniques and environments to help our people to bring their ideas to life.

“Collaboration is at the core of success; building cross functional teams with talent both inside and outside the organisation drives diversity in the pursuit to creating new value,” she said.

The CommBank Property App has changed the way Australians search for, find and buy property. 

The App was developed using an agile framework and was tested with over 100 home buyers in the usability testing space within the bank’s Sydney Innovation Lab.

The Virtual Reality Workplace has enabled thousands of potential CommBank candidates to experience what it is like to work in an agile, future focused workplace that fosters an innovative culture.

Ms Bianco said: "The Virtual Reality Workplace not only demonstrates CBA’s technology focus but the virtual reality experience helps candidates understand CBA’s values and how important it is to place the customer at the heart of everything we do.”