CBA adds loyalty capability to its app

Commonwealth Bank customers will be able to scan their loyalty cards into their banking app and display them on their smartphones when making purchases.

The new loyalty feature is available on Android platforms and will be available on the iOS platform in coming weeks.

Loyalty programs already enrolled include FlyBuys, Velocity, Dymocks Myer One, Woolworths Everyday Rewards, Country Road, Vintage Cellars, Kathmandu, Starbucks, T2, and Hoyts Rewards.

Users load the loyalty card into their CommBank app by scanning the card's barcode.

The bank said its research showed that 88 per cent of consumers over the age of 16 were members of loyalty schemes.

"What we are offering is a single app for loyalty and payments," said Angus Sullivan, CBA executive general manager retail products and strategy.

The bank is also working with Scentre Group, the owner and operator of Westfield shopping centres in Australia and New Zealand, on a pilot of a program called CommBank Offers.

The program allows customers to opt in for discount offers at Westfield shopping centres. To redeem their rewards shoppers show the CommBank Offers screen to the retailer.

Sullivan said the pilot would be launched in the next few months

"Customers told us they wanted instant rewards - something they could participate in now," he said.

Sullivan said that in the past 12 months mobile had become its customers' primary interaction with the bank. Two-thirds of the bank's retail customers are logging in through their mobile app.

"Customers feel they have more control over their money," he said.