Commonwealth Bank Rolls Out App for Facebook, P2P Payments

Commonwealth Bank of Australia today unveiled its new mobile phone app, called Kaching, capable of conducting NFC-based, P2P payments via e-mail and Facebook from a single handheld device.

Commonwealth called the ability to make social media P2P payments via a user's Facebook account, "a world first."

"This banking breakthrough marks a significant milestone in the evolution of how we pay and receive money from each other," said Michael Harte, Group Executive Enterprise Services and Chief Information Officer for the bank.

Commonwealth Bank said it has experienced significant growth in its online banking service, called NetBank, in recent years. In August, more 16 than million logins were made to NetBank using a mobile device, which represents a 229 percent increase from the same period last year.

Due to the rising use of the mobile channel by its customers, Commonwealth said it designed the new app to reduce the reliance on traditional payment methods and transform and simplify day-to-day payments for its users.

Regarding security issues, the bank said password encryption technology will ensure that a lost or stolen phone will not enable someone to access a user’s personal banking details. The app is authorized to be used on only one handset, and no personal banking information is stored on the phone.

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio