Back up strategy for CBA

Commonwealth Bank is piloting a service which will allow its customers to store important digital documents, such as contracts or scanned passports, online and for free.

NetBank Vault, which is initially being trialled through CBA's My NetBank Labs, will let customers store up to 1000 files for free. However, during a technology update briefing, held in Sydney yesterday, the bank gave no indication of when the service might go live, however, but My NetBank Labs notes that if the bank pulls the plug on the innovation early adopters will have 60 days to download their documents from the vault.

Digital mailbox services are becoming common, quite apart from the many document storage services on offer from internet companies. One such service was announced in March by Digital Post Australia (a joint venture forged between Computershare, Salmat and Zumbox) and Australia Post.

Noting that the smartphone and tablet computer were "changing the banking landscape" to the extent that banking was now seen by many consumers as being "something you do while you are doing something else" - the bank announced a series of upgrades to its NetBank online site intended to make navigation and information access simpler.

Another innovation slated for imminent release is the long-awaited Android version of the Kaching payments application. The iPhone version of the app has been downloaded on to 300,000 devices. Kaching is also now being readied for launch in New Zealand through ASB.

Chief marketing officer Andy Lark said the Android version of Kaching would be launched in four to six weeks - although without NFC capability, meaning it can't be used for contactless payments. Asked about the long wait - CBA originally tipped an Android version three months after it launched the iPhone system - Lark said: "This is not another release of Angry birds … customers hold us to a high standard in terms of availability."

Customers are also keen on security - Lark confirmed that CBA was working with US start-ups on integrating biometric identification technology into the Kaching app, so that fingerprint or retina scans could be used to confirm the identity of users. He said this could be integrated as soon as 2013.