Commonwealth Bank (CBA) today announced enhancements to its scam prevention, detection and customer support strategy with additional technology initiatives including industry-first NameCheck technology for money transfers and new caller verification via the CommBank app.

CBA’s Group Executive Retail Banking, Angus Sullivan, said:

“Scammers are attempting to cause harm to our customers and the community every day and we are working hard to utilise our technology and customer insights to help keep their hard-earned money safe.”

In an Australian banking first, CBA is introducing its NameCheck technology to give customers an indication of whether the name and account details they entered look right. Launching in late March, the technology can help reduce false billing scams – known as business email compromise – as well as mistaken payments. It will be available on the CommBank app, NetBank and CommBiz.

The bank has also launched in-app caller verification technology through a feature called CallerCheck to give customers peace of mind that CBA is genuinely contacting them. The functionality allows CBA staff to trigger a notification to the customer’s CommBank app verifying the call is from the bank and allowing the customer to log in and verify their identity in-app, removing the need to provide personal information over the phone.

“Prior to CallerCheck there was no easy way for a customer to verify if they were genuinely speaking to the bank. CallerCheck gives customers the confidence that our call is genuine and can be confirmed in real time in the safe and controlled environment of the CommBank app,” Mr Sullivan added.