CBA's x15ventures takes on spinout to target scams

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s innovation arm, x15ventures, is gearing up to incubate a spinout to address the rise in scam and fraud activity in Australia.

The spinout, with x15ventures' backing, is now recruiting for a managing director, chief technology officer and chief product officer.

It is said to be at a “pre-seed stage and working toward proof-of-concept, with significant funding and commitment to build quickly”, according to the postings on LinkedIn.

“The venture has early signals of product-market fit from early testing, as it is a spinout from an existing well-established venture,” the posts state.

The CTO will lead technical strategy and vision, and have “significant influence in choosing the appropriate technology stack and tools”.

The chief product offier will "help shape and deliver the direction and ultimately, proof-of-concept that will be released to the market in early 2024”.

An x15ventures spokesperson told iTnews that “fraud and scams are a big concern for Australians at the moment”.

“As part of the huge amount of work being done by our parent, CommBank, we’re in the early stages of building a venture in this space," the spokesperson said.

“While it’s still early days we should have a lot more to say about it in the coming months.”

While the full purpose of the venture is yet to be fully realised, the bank is seeking skills in digital identity and how to architect a bank-grade identity product.

Parent company, CBA has been focused on combating the rise in scams in recent times, including through digital features such as NameCheck and CallerCheck, which the bank believes will help customers spot false billing cons and avoid mistaken payments.