CBA’s group executive for business banking Mike Vacy-Lyle
Commonwealth Bank is pushing into new areas of business banking specialisation, following the success of its previous moves into healthcare, hospitality and trades.
Speaking at a digital banking and technology update yesterday, CBA’s group executive for business banking Mike Vacy-Lyle said the bank had completed the pilot of a specialist real estate service and was working on an agribusiness offering.
Vacy-Lyle said payment arrangements in the rental market, with 2.7 million rental properties and A$49 billion of annual payments, were plagued by a lot of “friction”.
CBA’s new service includes automated payment facilities and digital rental contracts. It will be launched in the first quarter next year.
In agribusiness, it is working with data services company Pairtree to aggregate a range of information for use in farming businesses.
Over the past few years, CBA has worked with or invested in a number of businesses that allow it to offer specialist business services. These include software company doshii, which integrates point of sale systems, and Whitecoat, a healthcare payments business.
For trades, it has bundled a range of services and added an asset finance offering.
Vacy-Lyle said the business bank division was following a similar strategy to the consumer bank, using partnerships, digital services and greater specialisation to differentiate the bank, improve customer experience and increase engagement.
He said these initiatives had been successful, contributing to the bank’s leading position in business transaction banking and business deposits.