Raiz accuses Commonwealth Bank of "threatening fintech customers"

Popular micro-investing app Raiz Invest has slammed Commonwealth Bank for warning its customers against linking their bank login details to third-party services such as Raiz Invest.

The fintech described Commonwealth Bank’s (CBA) warning as a scare tactic designed to alert Raiz’s (formerly known as Acorns Australia) 200,000+ customers into no longer using the app and drive fintechs out of business.

“Last week, Commonwealth Bank appeared to abuse its market power by threatening fintech customers, including Raiz Invest users, by scaremonger tactics over cyber security issues,” Raiz said in a statement.

It is alleged CBA warned customers through emails and push notifications that linking bank login details to services such as Raiz Invest puts their money at risk. According to Raiz, CBA was the only one of the big four banks to do this.

In an email to Raiz customers last week, Raiz Invest CEO George Lucas said it is, at worst, an attempt by CBA to reduce competition, with the big four bank having a rival micro-investment app of its own, CommSec Pocket.

“The only conclusion we can reach about CBA’s recent customer communications is that it’s deliberately designed to scare them away from other financial services companies, such as Raiz Invest, and as such is a poorly disguised attempt to protect its market share,” Mr Lucas said in a statement today.

“CBA customers and ASIC should be concerned that CBA is constantly monitoring their customer data and interacting with other financial services and products providers and implementing strategies to encourage then to switch from or cancel such services.”

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Source: Raiz accuses Commonwealth Bank of “threatening fintech customers” | Savings.com.au