The day is approaching when Australians will be able to apply for a home or business loan via artificial intelligence without speaking to a human. This is the vision of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), which is already exploring agents capable of completing income verification and other stages of a borrowing application.
CommBank Companion: A New AI Tool
While not fully operational yet, Australia's largest bank has taken a step forward by revealing its pilot testing of CommBank Companion, an agentic AI-powered tool integrated into its mobile banking app. The tool allows retail and business customers to ask questions and access information about their financial goals—such as buying a home, financial health, cash flows, and savings—using their own readily available data, entirely without human involvement.
However, the conversational tool will not make direct recommendations about bank products, as it is not intended or permitted to substitute for financial advice under banking industry regulations. The bank emphasizes that the customer remains in control, particularly regarding their next steps, subject to terms and conditions.
Beyond Traditional Chatbots
CBA states that this represents a significant upgrade from a standard banking chatbot. The companion can take action as it resolves queries, acting intuitively, and learns about the user's preferences and habits. For example, if a 28-year-old named Alex wants to buy a home and sees a property she likes, she could ask the companion about its value and how to reach her deposit goals, receiving real-time answers. With a plan in place, the companion would continue to guide her savings journey.
Sam Hemphill, general manager of customer channel and data, said, 'This certainly takes us beyond customer-facing chatbots. This goes well beyond that.' CBA claims the companion is the first customer-facing front-end agent developed by a big four bank in Australia. Macquarie Bank, which is not a big four, offers a similar tool called Q on its app.
Competitive Landscape and Adoption
Angus Sullivan, CBA's group head of retail banking services, noted, 'This is going to become a massively intense competitive space. My expectation is that the native app experience will become increasingly a conversational and agentic digital experience at the core of how our customers engage.' According to CBA data, over nine million Australians—about 33% of the population—use the current banking app daily, logging in an average of 1.4 times per day.
The companion is already being tested by 2,000 bank employees and 10,000 small business customers, with a phased rollout planned. It is set to go live with thousands of retail and business customers by the end of June. The announcement comes ahead of CBA's AI client conference in Sydney, where leaders from OpenAI, Coles, and Canva will speak about the future of AI adoption.
