Westpac, Commbank using digital to address social needs of customers

Australia's two biggest banks have extended their capabilities in AI, analytics and digital technologies to address the important social issues of abuse and gambling addiction.

Commonwealth Bank is using artificial intelligence to detect potentially abusive behaviour, while Westpac is expanding a digital gambling block feature for customers and applying it to all Westpac account holders under 18.

CBA’s AI and machine learning technologies detect abusive behaviour within transaction descriptions in the CommBank App and Netbank. Its algorithms identify instances of abuse, stopping transaction descriptions that include threatening, harassing or abusive language.

Justin Tsuei, General Manager Community and Customer Vulnerability said, “Technology-facilitated abuse is a serious problem and completely unacceptable behaviour. We want to ensure our customers feel safe when they are using our platforms, and it’s our responsibility to do everything we can to provide the right measures of protection across our channels."

Over 100,000 transactions were blocked by the automatic filter in a three month period at the beginning of the year, with the AI model detecting 229 unique senders of potentially serious abuse.

The instances are then manually reviewed to determine the severity and further action such as setting up new accounts for victims, referring victims to external support organisations and sending warning letters to perpetrators.

In extreme cases, the bank can terminate a customer’s banking relationship if they continue to breach the Acceptable Use Policy.

Westpac’s extension of its digital gambling block feature means that it will now be available for two million St. George, BankSA and Bank of Melbourne debit card customers.

When the gambling block is applied, transactions to certain gambling merchants are instantly prevented.

“Problem gambling continues to be a serious issue in Australian communities, and as more people transact online during the pandemic, the digital feature gives customers the ability to manage their gambling spend whenever they might need it,” said Westpac’s Director of Customer Vulnerability & Financial Resilience, Catherine Fitzpatrick.

“The benefits of being able to apply a block in real-time also it gives customers more control and flexibility in the moment.”

The latest update applies the block to all Westpac Group debit cardholders under the age of 18.

“We are noticing the pandemic has led to a rise in people gambling more and worried about their money,” said Lauren Levin, Director of Policy & Campaigns at Financial Counselling Australia.

“The gambling block is a great idea. Research tells us that the more often a person gambles, the greater the risk of developing a gambling issue. The bank gambling block is an easy tool that will help a lot of people."