Many Australians have already been handling their financial affairs online for quite some time, but the COVID-19 pandemic has now made it a necessity for most of us. With many bricks-and-mortar bank branches temporarily closed, access to simple and easy-to-use online banking has become even more crucial, especially for those who may not have much experience of banking online.
According to Canstar Research, this year’s analysis also highlighted other trends in banking technology. These included the widespread adoption of fast payments technologies OSKO and PayID, as an increasing number of institutions embrace the New Payments Platform. In addition, advancements in payment methods have led many institutions to adopt wearable pay options such as Fitbit Pay and Garmin Pay. Early adopters of these platforms are now taking the lead in the market due to an increased variety of payment options, Canstar Research found.
With all of this in mind, Canstar has analysed the online and mobile banking offerings of 82 financial institutions from our database and named the bank and customer owned bank with the strongest online banking platforms in 2020.
How were the winners decided?
Eligible institutions were assessed based on the features offered through their online and mobile banking platforms. Each institution was assessed and scored on a number of different feature categories. Points assigned were weighted based on the importance of each category.
The feature categories considered and their weightings were as follows:
| Category | Features considered | Bank weighting | Customer Owned Institution weighting |
| Research and application | Availability and transparency of product information, the flexibility and ease of online applications, and access to educational/informational resources. | 15% | 20% |
| Payment and transactions | Features related to making and receiving payments including transfer limits, settlement times, availability of contactless payments, and any restrictions on international payments. | 30% | 30% |
| Banking assistant | The overall functionality and features of an institution’s online and mobile banking platforms e.g. viewing accounts, setting goals, alerts and notifications, account maintenance, and availability of the platform for different desktop and mobile operating systems | 25% | 25% |
| Support | Features related to making and receiving payments including transfer limits, settlement times, availability of contactless payment functionality, and any restrictions on international payments | 15% | 15% |
| Security | Availability of security measures including secondary authentication, automatic log-off, automatic lockout, protocol for if strange transactions occur, and liability for not-at-fault transactions | 10% | 10% |
| Customer Satisfaction (Bank of the Year only) | Based on the results of Canstar’s Most Satisfied Customer Award – Banks, in which respondents were asked to rate their overall experience with their bank’s online banking and self-service functionality | 5% | 0% |
Bank of the Year – Online and Mobile Banking – Commonwealth Bank
Commonwealth Bank has continued its winning streak, holding onto its Bank of the Year Awards for both Online Banking and Mobile Banking this year. Commonwealth Bank has won the Online Banking Award every year since 2010, making 2020 its 11th consecutive win. The major has also won the Bank of the Year Award for Mobile Banking every year since it was introduced in 2016, meaning it has now racked up five consecutive wins.
This year, Canstar Research said Commonwealth Bank’s win was driven by market-leading performances across features considered in the payment and transactions, banking assistant, and research and application categories.
Commonwealth Bank’s online banking is delivered through its NetBank platform, while it offers mobile banking primarily via the CommBank app. According to the bank, the features of its online and mobile banking mean customers can carry out tasks such as:
- See their everyday account balance
- Check statements and transactions
- Transfer money to someone or between their own accounts
- Get support from Ceba, the CommBank chatbot assistant
Customer Owned Bank of the Year – Online and Mobile Banking – Beyond Bank
Beyond Bank has retained its Customer Owned Bank of the Year Awards for online and mobile banking, marking the sixth year in a row it has won the Award for online banking. Beyond Bank was also the inaugural winner of the Customer Owned Bank of the Year Award for mobile banking in 2016, and has won the Award every year since it was introduced.
According to Canstar Research, Beyond Bank beat the market average across all categories considered, and was the market leader when it came to features considered in the payments and transactions, banking assistant, and research and application categories.
Beyond Bank says its online and mobile banking platforms allow customers to:
- Transfer between their own accounts, other Beyond Bank member accounts and make bill payments
- Transfer to anyone, including international transfers and use PayID
- Schedule transactions and see a list of scheduled transfers
- Track spending and savings using graphs (internet banking only)
For more information about how the winners were decided, read the Online and Mobile Banking methodology document. You can also view the full results.
Share this article