CBA announces partnerships for new digital services


The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has partnered with Zetta Ventures Partners and Square Pegg to deliver new digital banking services, as well as a partnership with X15 Ventures who will launch small business app Backr, with a $500 bonus for new business launched through the app.
Backr would be launched to help start small businesses, where new owners were guided through the process step-by-step, from registering their business name and Australian business number (ABN), to creating a business plan and trading.
Matt Comyn, CBA chief executive, said the bank would deposit $500 into the account of any eligible business launched through Backr, until the end of 2020.
“Through Backr, we hope to get thousands of new digitally-enabled businesses get off the ground,” Comyn said.
“This is now more important than ever given the need to drive the economic recovery.”
CBA has committed US$10 million (A$14m) to Zetta Ventures Partners and Square Pegg to support the sourcing, scaling and financing of local fintechs, as well as the development of emerging artificial intelligence (AI) business in Australia.
“We’re also delighted to welcome Square Peg and Zetta as strategic partners and look forwarding to working with them to bring new solutions to our customers, harnessing the latest technologies, AI, and machine-learning models,” Comyn said.
CBA’s latest digital banking numbers had grown to 6.1 million customers using the CommBank app, up 500,000 from FY19.
Over $1.2 billion was transacted through the app every day with daily logins having surpassed 6.3 million.
Recommended for you
Trustee and fund administration platform MSC Group has promoted Shelley Brown as its chief operations officer, having successfully completed the integration of the Certane Corporate Trust business.
Australian Unity’s group managing director and chief executive has announced his plans to retire at the end of the year after two decades leading the company.
TAL has appointed a senior manager for investment strategy and portfolio management who joins from a lead role at AIA.
Global wealth management platform FNZ has appointed a new group head of APAC, while boutique investment manager TWC Invest welcomes a chief technology officer.