CBA customers find $1 billion in benefits

Commonwealth Bank customers have found in excess of $1 billion of grants, rebates and concessions using the bank's digital tool Benefits finder.

Launched in 2019, the tool was developed to ‘nudge’ customers towards unclaimed government benefits, which it estimated could be worth up to $10 billion.

The finder functionality uses Commonwealth Bank’s customer engagement engine (CEE), the bank’s machine learning platform built with Pegasystems and Harvard University’s Sustainability Transparency Accountability and Research (STAR) Lab.

CBA chief data and analytics officer Dr Andrew McMullan said its “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," McMullan said.

The bank said over 2.2 million claims had originated from the digital tool, available in CBA’s CommBank app and NetBank, between January 2019 and December 2022.

McMullan the bank 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.”

He said the bank is “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,” McMullan said.

With the bank totalling more than 8 million digitally active customers, McMullan said “these benefits can add up to a significant amount.

Benefit finder figures

Tracking the customer figures of those using the finder function, CBA found that so far more than 24,000 Australian businesses have started 35,000 claims since it made Benefits finder available to business customers in 2021.

CBA also recorded the top five benefits for its retail customers 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)

CBA also found between an 18-month period from June 2021 and December 2022, the top five benefits for business customers were recorded as:

• NSW Covid Business Support Grant (more than 6300 claims started)
• Skill Finder Business Courses (more than 4100 claims started)
• Business Disaster Assist (more than 2500 claims started)
• Youth Jobs PaTH (more than 2400 claims started)
• Wage Subsidies (more than 1800 claims started)

By state, CBA reported from January 2019 until December 2022, NSW saw over 1 million claims started, followed by Victoria with 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); and Northern Territory (more than 2000).