Commonwealth Bank focused on innovating amid pressure from fintechs

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) CEO Matt Comyn has said his bank is committed to spending big every year on technology to deliver the best banking experience, in a market where fintechs are starting to ruffle the feathers of the big four.

Facing the House Standing Committee on Economics on Friday, Comyn was asked what single fintech innovation would most benefit Australian banking consumers over the coming years.

“That’s a very difficult question to answer,” he said. “Clearly, there’s a number of new entrants into the market … certainly more banking licences issued over the last 18 months than possibly in the prior 15 or 20 years. It remains to be seen, depending on what sort of innovations they’re able to bring to the market.”

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) handed out four banking licences to new players in the market in a little over a year, with neobank Xinja Bank being granted a licence to operate as an authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI) without restrictions in September. Similarly, 86 400 Ltd in July, and Volt and Judo were given APRA approval in May 2018 and April 2019, respectively.

With new digitally-born fintechs increasing their presence, Comyn said the yellow and black bank is “extremely focused” on making sure that there is very little innovation for them to bring to the market that CBA hasn’t already brought forward.

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Source: Commonwealth Bank focused on innovating amid pressure from fintechs | ZDNet