Today Commonwealth Bank becomes the first Australian bank to release a report outlining how it is ideating, developing, deploying and managing Artificial Intelligence (AI) at an organisational level with a focus on responsible practices. The report explores the Bank's approach to AI, its journey over the past decade, and practical examples of AI in action across the organisation.
These include using AI to help protect customers from fraud and scams, strengthen cyber security, enhance customer experiences and detect abuse in transaction descriptions.
AI is reshaping industries and has the potential to deliver significant economic benefits for Australia, with industry estimates suggesting AI could add $45 billion to $115 billion a year to the economy by 2030.
Recognising this opportunity, the Australian Government's National AI Plan highlights the important role business plays in adopting AI responsibly.
Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn said the report aims to share what the Bank has learned in adopting AI and managing associated risks.
"We've heard that stakeholders want to better understand how AI is being used across the Bank and our approach to managing the risks associated with its adoption. This report outlines our progress and the safeguards we have in place to support responsible use."
"To realise the full potential of AI, we must work together to build capability, foster innovation and support responsible adoption. We aim to share our knowledge as we navigate this rapidly evolving landscape," Mr Comyn said.
"Our people are central to delivering for our customers, which is why we're expanding skilling programs to build confidence and capability."
Executive General Manager and lead on the Report Alex Matthews said CBA sees significant opportunities with AI but is equally mindful of the risks.
"As Australia's largest bank, trust is fundamental to how we use AI. Our approach is focused on our risk management foundations and guided by our AI principles."
"Banking technology has evolved significantly in the past 30 years, and we are using AI to help reduce scams and fraud, protect against phishing, and deliver more tailored and relevant experiences for our customers.
"We recognise the importance of collaboration with government, universities and business to foster innovation, build capability and support the responsible adoption of AI. We will continue to refine our approach as the technology evolves," Mr Matthews said.
As part of this commitment, CommBank this week also launched a longitudinal research initiative developed with Melbourne Business School to better understand how Australians perceive, use and trust AI in banking over time.
The full Our Approach to Adopting AI report is available on the CommBank website.
Key highlights include:
Responsible AI practices
- Established a dedicated governance forum to oversee AI risk framework development.
- AI approach built on risk management frameworks, guided by Code of Conduct and AI principles.
- Group AI Policy includes six principles; environmental and social, fairness, transparency, privacy and data protection, reliability and security, and accountability.
- Toolkits and guardrails focused on responsible practices support our teams in ideating, building, deploying and managing AI systems, and include ongoing monitoring and annual reviews.
- In 2024, we launched an AI learning series for our people and by the end of 2025, over 27,600 employees had engaged with the series.
AI critical in helping to protect Australians from scams and fraud
- Invested over $AU900 million in FY2025 to help protect customers from fraud, scams, cyber threats and financial crime.
- CommBank uses AI to help enhance scam and fraud detection strategies by quickly identifying unusual events in complex patterns of activity. These methods are applied to process more than 20 million payments daily on average and send 40,355 proactive warning alerts per day on average to customers via the CommBank app. This has played a crucial role in helping to reduce customer fraud losses by over 20% in the first half of 2026 financial year compared to the first half of 2025 financial year.
- Partnered with Apate.ai, a cyber intelligence company, to help fight scams using AI-powered bots that engage scammers in real-time conversations.
AI has the potential to transform customer experiences
- AI is being used to help enhance customer experiences, from fraud protection and cyber security to detecting abuse in transaction descriptions.
- Since 2015, CommBank's machine‑learning Customer Engagement Engine (CEE) helped CBA to better understand its customers and, in turn, help deliver improved and more tailored experiences.
- The CEE enabled the development of tools like Benefits finder - a free feature in the CommBank app and NetBank that has helped personal and business customers access more than 400 rebates since 2019, ranging from family energy support to wage subsidies for businesses.
- CommBank's Generative AI solution Compass AI is helping our frontline teams to be able to spend more time focused on the needs of our customers. It delivers inquiries from its business bank knowledge base three times faster than traditional methods and has been used to answer more than 500,000 questions since July 2024.
Building Australia's AI capability is a shared responsibility
- CommBank is a founding member of the National Security Tech Alliance and a founding partner in the Future Skills Organisation Skills Accelerator-AI, which equips educators and learners with practical AI skills.
- Helping accelerate research and bring advanced skills back to Australia through collaboration with leading universities, including the University of Adelaide's Australian Institute for Machine Learning.
- Investing in programs to inspire young Australians to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as AI, promoting diversity and inclusion in the tech workforce.
- The launch of a Tech Hub in Seattle, Washington in the USA is enabling our technologists to collaborate with and learn from global technology leaders.
- In December 2025, we released an AI video series to help Australians build confidence with AI and introduced a technology skills initiative to support small businesses in using AI to grow.
