Commonwealth Bank today released new figures that show Benefits finder has connected personal and business customers to $1 billion of grants, rebates and concessions since the CBA digital tool launched in 2019.
Benefits finder is a tool available in the CommBank app and NetBank to help customers find and apply for benefits, rebates and concessions that they may be entitled to.
Commonwealth Bank Chief Data & Analytics Officer, Dr Andrew McMullan said: "Benefits finder is one of a number of tools to help customers offset the rising cost of living. We also offer a wide range of financial tools, support and insights through our Cost of Living Support Hub, including how to find relevant discounts, rebates and benefits."
More than 2.2 million claims were started by personal and business customers between January 2019 and December 2022.
The top 5 benefits for personal customers (in order of number of claims started) were:
- ASIC Unclaimed Money (more than 295,000 claims started)
- Revenue NSW Unclaimed Money (more than 261,000 claims started)
- COVID-19 Disaster & Pandemic Leave Payments (combined across states, more than 231,000 claims started)
- Victoria Unclaimed Money Register (more than 175,000 claims started)
- NSW Dine & Discover Vouchers (more than 170,000 claims started)
More than 24,000 Australian businesses have started 35,000 claims since CBA made Benefits finder available to business customers in 2021.
Between June 2021 and December 2022, the top 5 benefits for business customers (in order of number of claims started) were:
- NSW Covid Business Support Grant (more than 6,300 claims started)
- Skill Finder Business Courses (more than 4,100 claims started)
- Business Disaster Assist (more than 2,500 claims started)
- Youth Jobs PaTH (more than 2,400 claims started)
- Wage Subsidies (more than 1,800 claims started)
Benefits finder is a free-to-use tool, with currently more than 360 benefits available - from the energy rebate for families, to the wage subsidies rebate for businesses.
Commonwealth Bank's Customer Engagement Engine uses AI to help customers to connect with benefits most relevant to them.
"We've used our tech smarts to recently connect with more than 1.86 million customers that may have been affected by a natural disaster to let them know about the support available at a time that matters," Dr McMullan said.
The state breakdown of the number of claims started from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2022 include:
- NSW (more than 1,000,000)
- Victoria (more than 569,000)
- Queensland (more than 340,000)
- Western Australia (more than 170,000)
- South Australia (more than 138,000)
- Australian Capital Territory (more than 43,000)
- Tasmania (more than 14,000)
- Northern Territory (more than 2,000)
Benefits finder was developed as part of the ongoing collaboration between CBA and Harvard University's STAR (Sustainability, Transparency and Accountability Research) Lab.
"We're focused on making it as simple as possible to access relevant benefits through the CommBank app and NetBank.
"As well as providing customers with details on each benefit or rebate, including how much they may be able to claim and instructions on how to claim, we regularly update the tool so it includes the latest benefits available," Dr McMullan said.
CBA has more than 8 million digitally active customers.
"Collectively these benefits can add up to a significant amount, helping pay for everyday living and business expenses and to save for the things that matter," Dr McMullan added.
