Commonwealth Bank Data Analytics to Aid Council, Tourist Area Strategy — Interview

By Alice Uribe

SYDNEY-- Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the country's largest bank, will use its data collection to help authorities understand how major events or tourism contribute to the local economy, as it continues to expand relationships with institutional customers by providing access to insights that can improve decision making.

The bank's CommBank iQ, a joint venture with data science company Quantium which started in 2021, uses de-identified payments data from around seven million CBA customers to form insights and tools for businesses, investors and policymakers.

As it builds out a suite of data-driven products, CommBank iQ is launching Council iQ and Destination iQ. The platforms are designed to help local governments and tourist areas understand residents and visitor spending activity, including the potential financial risk or reward of holding different types of events.

"It's really for local governments to have an understanding of the spending habits…within their local area," David Watts, Executive General Manager of Commonwealth Bank's Quants, Data, Analytics and Technology team told Dow Jones Newswires in a recent interview.

"What's the impact of having a music festival? How much money do they spend? What do they add to the GDP?"

For example, Destination iQ allows Commonwealth Bank's corporate customers to break down events by the time of day to determine impact as well as to profile visitors.

The lender's customers pay to access the Council iQ and Destination iQ propositions, which can be tailored to their needs by CommBank iQ.

The new products are part of a wider move by Commonwealth Bank to extend its offering to business clients beyond transactions, as it and banking rivals compete more aggressively for a share of the business finance market.

UBS analysis from September said Commonwealth Bank's business bank had further opportunities to grow its earnings, particularly given competitive pressures in retail banking. Some places for growth could be agribusiness and small business lending, with the potential for the business bank to be worth around 69 billion Australian dollars (US$44.9 billion) on a standalone basis.

Putting a commercial value on analytics was a new endeavor for Commonwealth Bank, and ensured the quality of insights and opened up opportunities for different types of conversations, said Watts.

"It gives us another area where we can say…we can help you with lots of different things. We can help you with strategic decisions," he said

"Our clients want to understand their clients more, their demographics, their impact, their reach. We can… help them with those questions. It's just about having the right data, with the right people, at the right time, so they can make the right decisions."

Danielle Malone, National Partner-in-Charge, Data & Cloud, KPMG Australia, said data services and advice provided by banks can drive deeper and more loyal relationships with customers.

"It's becoming an expected benefit for corporate customers and the larger the customer the higher the expectation, not delivering a data and analytics service will leave banks behind very rapidly," she said.

Council iQ and Destination iQ are currently being used by Commonwealth Bank clients, along with other products aimed at the property, retail and government sectors. As part of its offering CommBankIQ can also help groups with decision making via predictive data and AI.

Write to Alice Uribe at alice.uribe@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 15, 2023 22:25 ET (03:25 GMT)

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