CBA to speed up AI rollout as it fights bank tech war
Australia’s largest bank says it will continue to invest in the United States despite the “short-term volatility and noise”, as it prepares to send hundreds of staff to its new Seattle-based technology hub to accelerate the rollout of artificial intelligence across its digital platforms.
Commonwealth Bank has ratcheted up the tech wars by establishing a dedicated Tech Hub in Seattle, Washington, near the headquarters of tech giants Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, seeking to widen its lead on its adoption of artificial intelligence (AI).
CBA group executive technology Gavin Munroe and chief executive Matt Comyn are in Seattle this week to launch the Tech Hub. Credit: CBA
“We’ve been working on a lot of the foundations that we think are going to be important, but we’ll continue to bring things to the market,” CBA chief Matt Comyn said from Seattle.
“We’re also working on some bigger and more challenging areas, like our whole approach to designing and developing software, thinking about how we tackle some of the most challenging problems in banking, like fraud, scam, cyber [and] financial crime, how to deliver the best digital experience on an ongoing basis, how to automate and support our customers in their most important experiences with us.”
Over the next 12 months, 200 CBA staff will rotate through the tech hub to learn from Amazon, AI research company Anthropic, H2O Generative AI and Microsoft.
Australian banks have been heavily investing in tech, especially AI, seeking an advantage to their rivals as part of a tectonic shift in banking. AI and machine learning innovations are expected to transform customer service and loan applications, while making internal processes more efficient.
In 2024, the major four banks’ technology expenses ballooned by 15.2 per cent to $8.9 billion, according to a KPMG analysis of results. The professional services’ 2023 global tech report found 61 per cent of banking technology leaders believe generative AI, AI and machine learning will be critical to the business, but the industry has so far been cautious in its rollout of the technology.
Comyn said it was critical for the bank to continue investing in the US to widen its technology lead despite the “short-term volatility” from president Donald Trump’s widespread tariff policies, which economists have widely described as inflationary.
Earlier this month, fears of a recession in the United States drove a sharemarket sell-off, with $4 trillion wiped from the S&P 500, while the Australian sharemarket lost more than $45 billion.
“It’s fair to expect ongoing uncertainty and volatility, and we’ve seen that in a number of markets,” the CBA chief said.
“I think there’s a good opportunity as a financial institution to be talking with our customers and larger customers, helping them to think about how to hedge those risks.”
Trump has already slapped a 25 per cent tariff on Australian steel and aluminium, and US officials are now considering a broader suite of global tariffs on goods such as medicines and meat to be implemented from April 2.
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