CommBank Introduces Kaching For Facebook and 'Signals' Insight Platform

Commonwealth Bank of Australia continues to be one of the bank innovation leaders, announcing two social-based platforms this week. 'Kaching for Facebook' is an extension of the already popular Kaching smartphone app covered in a previous Bank Marketing Strategy post, allowing customers to do basic transactions within the Facebook website. 

In addition, CommBank introduced the 'Signals' insight hub that collects transactional data to allow customers to view and share how their transaction patterns compare with others.

Kaching Comes to Facebook

CommBank Kaching for Facebook is a new app that will give Australia's 12 million Facebook users access to everyday banking and payments on their favorite social network. Based on the popular Kaching mobile payments app, the new app lets users pay back money owed or make cash gifts to friends of family for birthdays or weddings. The app also allows a customer to view transaction history within the Facebook website.

"With Facebook popularity skyrocketing to more than 55 percent of the population in Australia, we know our customers, particularly Facebook's core user base of 18-35 year olds, are looking for new ways to connect their banking and their lives, friends and causes within Facebook," states Commonwealth Bank's chief marketing and online officer, Andy Lark. "So what better way to respond than by giving them access to everyday banking and payments on their favorite social network?"

Accessed directly from the Commonwealth Bank Kaching Facebook page, the app is a scaled down version of a typical online banking app optimized for mobile using responsive design.

When customers sign up for the new Kaching app on the CommBank Facebook page, they will be able to view account balances and transaction history, transfer funds between accounts and view peer-to-peer payment and request history. In addition, the features of the new service will allow people to:

• Pay Facebook friends or anyone using an email address or Australian mobile number and Australian bank account;
• Request payments from friends;
• Gift payments to friends and family;
• Make payments directly to Facebook event pages.

While the initiative allows customers to transact on a commonly used platform, online banking manager at CommBank, Drew Unsworth, admits that people may not feel comfortable doing regular banking on Facebook. "When people first hear about it, they think all of their financial details will be on their Facebook wall, but that's not right," Unsworth says. 

To address the common concern of security and privacy, Commonwealth Bank will secure transactions using a combination of a 4-digit PIN code to log into the Facebook app in conjunction with a six-digit confirmation pin sent via SMS. The code is also used by the payee to receive the payment. 

Commonwealth Bank also has built Kaching for Facebook to help alleviate consumer concerns regarding privacy in the Facebook environment. "We designed CommBank Kaching for Facebook in a way that ensures Facebook does not have access to, or visibility over, anything our customers do within the application," Lark said. "Our customers have total control over which personal and transactional information they choose to send to friends, post on their walls or post on another person's wall."

In addition, the bank is offering a '100% security guarantee' that will cover customers for any losses that could occur due to unauthorized transactions.

Below is the video that describes the new Kaching for Facebook.

Facebook is the third platform to host the Kaching app, following the initial iPhone app introduced in 2011 and the Android version of the payments application released last year. Commonwealth Bank also expanded the functionality of the mobile and Facebook app, making it possible for customers from other banks to collect payments using Kaching.

To date, more than 6.5 million CommBank customers use online banking and more than 2.5 million customers accessed their accounts via mobile platforms.

Signals Leverages CommBank Data For Insights Platform

As opposed to keeping all of Commonwealth Bank's 'big data' private, the largest bank in Australia has decided to pool their extensive spending and savings data to launch a new consumer insight platform, Signals. Processing over 40% of the nation's transactions daily, CommBank will leverage the Signal content-rich data hub to publish megatrends monthly, supplemented by videos and infographics that will help consumers visualize the data. The first Signal infographic focuses on the costs of childcare.

Premier Signals Infographic on Childcare Costs

In addition to publishing megatrends monthly, Signals will also allow an individual to view how they compare to others in their demographic segment. Using a highly engaging and interactive personalized video tool, a person can compare how they spend, save, transact and borrow based on their gender, age and postal code within Australia. If desired, a consumer can share and compare their information across various social networks.

Below are some of the screenshots from the process (the output is actually a personalized video with voiceover). Each slide in the presentation provides a link to the appropriate area of the bank for assistance in saving, investing, borrowing, etc. A personalized infographic is also generated from the input and is available to share via social networks.

Personalized Insights Based On Age, Gender and Postal Code

Personalized Infographic Created By Signals Insight Platform

"CommBank has always had a deep passion about improving the financial knowledge of all Australians. The reality is, the more information you have, the more inclined you will be to make better informed financial decisions. Signals is a visual and interactive site providing customers with spending patterns across a broad range of topics," stated Commonwealth Bank's Lark.

Signals is similar to another compiled data sharing hub - PeopleLikeU - introduced last November by Australian bank competitor UBank (backed by NAB). While this site asks for more information than the Signals platform (gender, age, housing, income, family structure and location) which may inhibit consumer participation, CommBank will note that the database for comparison is smaller.

 

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Kaching Users In New Era Of Mobile Banking - Bank Marketing Strategy ((October 2011)

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