The Commonwealth Bank spent $1.2 billion on IT services in the first half of the 2017 financial year, its latest figures show. This was a massive 61 percent jump on the $752 million spent in the same half of FY2016.
Amortisation of software assets cost $613 million in the latest six-month period, while the bank outlaid $222 million on technology applications, maintenance, and development.
CBA reported a net profit after tax of $4.9 billion, up 6 percent for the latest six months.
The bank’s customers – like those of its competitors – are increasingly Internet-savvy. Cash-based Internet transactions for the period reached an all-time high, with 684 million instances, accounting for 53 percent of the bank’s total money transacted for the half.
Around 80 percent of the Internet transactions were made on mobile devices.
A feature of the six months, digitally speaking, was CBA’s introduction of “camera pay”, pictured, which allows customers to use their smartphone camera to scan a code to send and receive money.
In October, CBA entered into a memorandum of understanding with Alipay, Chinese company Alibaba’s online payment platform, to deliver new payment systems to Australian and Chinese consumers and retailers.
