Commonwealth Bank has announced that Bendigo Bank and fraud monitoring company Satori, are each looking to pilot CBA’s industry leading NameCheck technology in a bid to further protect Australians from scams and mistaken payments.
NameCheck applies advanced technology and CBA’s available payment data to give an indication of whether the account details provided look right. CBA introduced NameCheck to retail customers and on some payments[i] made by business customers earlier this year.
Since its launch in March this year, the technology has prevented more than 10,000 scam payments which would have totalled in excess of an estimated $38 million[ii], and already reduced mistaken payments by more than $100 million[iii].
Today, this technology is being extended to Bendigo Bank to be added to its Up app; and Satori who monitor financial controls for some of Australia’s leading brands like Coates and many of Australia’s top industry and government organisations.
CBA Group Executive Business Banking, Mike Vacy-Lyle, said the collaborations with Bendigo Bank and Satori are looking to build on the Bank’s commitment to a ‘whole-of-ecosystem’ national approach to scam prevention.
“In May this year, we announced our intention to extend our NameCheck technology to other trusted institutions in Australia.
“We are delighted to collaborate with Bendigo Bank and Satori, both of whom play an incredibly important role in the payments ecosystem.
“With scams and fraud costing Australians and businesses billions of dollars annually, it’s clear a whole of ecosystem response is needed to combat this problem. We are proud to be able to extend our industry-leading technology to others and contribute to protecting more Australians against cyber criminals,” Mr Vacy-Lyle said.
NameCheck can be added with a simple integration to an institution’s mobile or online experience, backend operations software or to existing scam prevention capabilities.
Bendigo Bank’s Chief Transformation Officer Ryan Brosnahan said the introduction of NameCheck had the potential to help its customers and further reduce instances of scams and the risk of mistaken payments.
“We are proud to work with our peers on solutions that provide our customers with additional confidence when making direct payments online. Cyber fraud is a complex, evolving, and ongoing challenge that the industry, government, regulators, law enforcement, telcos and internet platforms must work together to combat.”
Satori’s Executive Director: Growth, Mark Bookatz, added that the incorporation of NameCheck is an essential service to many of its corporate customers in detecting and reducing scams and mistaken payments to their suppliers.
“Australian institutions have recognised the high costs stemming from errors, non-compliance and fraud in their financial processes. We are excited to work with CBA and extend the NameCheck service to our corporate customer base to complement the existing AI driven financial controls monitoring service driving operational efficiency and preventing fraud,” Mr Bookatz said.
The collaborations come as CBA progressively rolls out its NameCheck technology to its business customers which will cover nearly all payments processed through CommBiz.
Research[iv] commissioned by the Commonwealth Bank shows that 20 per cent of Aussie businesses are yet to take action to respond to the rising threat of scams, leaving up to 500,000 businesses[v] without a plan to address scams.
Among those that have taken action, the most common steps that have been taken or plan to be taken include checking bank accounts/statements and invoices more regularly/thoroughly (46 per cent), updating/upgrading software (40 per cent), engaging third-party suppliers (29 per cent) and providing additional training for staff (25 per cent).
“With scammers attempting to cause harm to hard-working Australian businesses every day, the fact that this research shows eight in 10 Australian businesses are taking action is no doubt a positive.
However, that still leaves 20 per cent of businesses exposed. We want all Australian businesses to feel equipped to tackle the scourge of scams.
“Scammers often rely on people within a business being tricked into transferring money to accounts they shouldn’t.
“To protect your business from scams, remember three simple steps: Stop. Check. Reject,” said Mr Vacy-Lyle.
Last month CBA joined forces with Telstra to launch a pilot of Scam Indicator[vi], which may help protect joint CBA and Telstra customers from phone scams where criminals try and trick people into transferring them large amounts of money.
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[i] NameCheck is currently available in Commbiz for non-bulk payments to a first-time payee using Direct Credit, Priority Payment and Fast Payment.
[ii] Based on payments made via the CommBank app and NetBank between March and September 2023.
[iii] Mistaken payments data is based on the situation where a customer enters an incorrect BSB and/or account number for the person they intend to pay and then corrects that after receiving the initial NameCheck result.
[iv] This study was conducted online by YouGov between 14th – 21st August 2023 using a nationally representative sample of 2,047 people aged 18+ across Australia, including 367 business owners, directors and senior managers. Age, gender and region quotas were applied to the sample. Results were post-weighted by age, gender and region to reflect the latest ABS population estimates.
[v] Money.com.au, Australian business statistics 2023.
[vi] Last year, Telstra launched Quantium Telstra, a joint venture dedicated to creating AI solutions with the customer at the centre. Quantium Telstra has been instrumental in the development and deployment of Scam Indicator in close consultation with CBA.
