COMMONWEALTH BANK

Smartphones are becoming an increasingly important tool for daily transactions

Australia has the sixth most concentrated smartphone market in the world after Singapore, South Korea, Norway, Spain and Sweden, according to a Deloitte survey. And using smartphones to bank online is becoming increasingly popular, with Deloitte research showing that 55% of adult Australians use a banking app to transfer money. Now we can even make payments using our phones and Deloitte found that 35% of the respondents (more than 2000 Australians between the ages of 18 and 75) are prepared to use their mobiles as a payment device. There’s no denying that Commonwealth

Bank is at the forefront of digital innovations and features that make mobile banking easier. This is the seventh year in a row that Commbank has picked up this award. “Leveraging off the exponential growth in the use of smartphones and introduction of new technology like smart watches, Commonwealth Bank continues to pave the way for its competitors,” says Julie Nguyen, research analyst at Canstar. “Offering a comprehensive list of features across available platforms allows Commbank customers to experience a seamless transition from desktop to mobile.”

The Commbank app lets you place a temporary lock/hold on cards, withdraw money using cardless cash, pay someone using a mobile number, store loyalty cards in a digital wallet and make contactless payments in store. Its photo-a-bill feature lets you take a shot of your bill, then image-capture technology scans it and adds the details for you to tap and pay.

Commbank will also introduce a spend tracker soon. This shows you exactly where your money goes by categorising your transactions into groups such as groceries, rent and fuel. It is also working on a “savings jar” which will round up your transactions and keep your spare change in a virtual piggy bank, similar to the investing app Acorns. Bank of Melbourne/BankSA/St.George, our second placegetter, also offers a number of features that make banking easier. You can place a temporary lock/ hold on your cards, use cardless cash, set up alerts for transactions that will incur a fee and use fingerprint verification. The app also features an “expense splitter”. If you’re paying for group expenses such as concert tickets, presents or a holiday you can keep track of what you’re owed, send SMS reminders and record who has paid you back. Westpac, in third, offers cardless cash, a temporary lock plus tap-and-pay on compatible Samsung devices.

So what does the future hold for mobile banking? “In the next couple of years we expect an increase in strategies to assist individuals make more informed decisions to reach their financial goals,” says Nguyen. “Through analysis of consumer transactions and behaviour, institutions have the ability to assist in the avoidance of fees and promote better product choices to suit individual needs.”

Others predict we will see more voice payments and even smart bots. In the US, for example, Bank of America is launching “Erica”, a virtual assistant that will use artificial intelligence to make suggestions over mobile phones for improving users’ financial affairs. Customers can chat with Erica via voice or text message.