Commonwealth Bank yesterday launched the product it hopes will turn around its fortunes in the business banking market. "CommBiz" is a browser-based online transaction banking service aimed at a wide range of business customers.CommBiz will handle payroll and account payable, real time funds transfer between accounts, direct credit and debit, international payments and account information.It supersedes a desktop business banking system that required customers to download software from the bank and that had to be operated from dedicated terminals.CBA's group executive for premium business services, Stuart Grimshaw, said the bank spent a lot of time in focus groups with customers getting input for the design of the new system. "We realised that it was necessary to have a top class internet banking service if we were going to acquire new business customers," he said.Grimshaw conceded that the bank had been "a bit slower than we would have liked" getting the new internet service up and running.External market research, for example, from East & Partners, has been showing dissatisfaction on this point for years at CBA, though most of the big banks proved slow at adapting dial-up systems (widely adopted by business in the early 1990s) for the internet.The bank's chief executive, Ralph Norris, has made no secret of his view that the CBA is performing poorly in business banking. A strategy document included in the 2006 results package says: "The bank is underweight in terms of its share of this growing market segment. We plan to enhance our business banking market position and offer customers more convenient and responsive service."CBA's business lending market share fell 10 basis points to 13.1 per cent in the year to June 30. Asset finance market share fell 90 basis points to 14.5 per cent during the same period. On top of Norris's to-do list was "a comprehensive, state-of-the-art on-line business banking service."CBA executive general manager banking products, Leslie Martin, said yesterday one of the standout features of CommBiz was the power it gave a chief financial officer to set access levels for staff and customers. "Each user gets a profile that determines their level of access."CommBiz uses two-factor authentication, with tokens supplied by Vasco Data Security International. Martin says another powerful feature of the system was that it was linked to the CBA's customer information system, CommSee. "When a business makes changes to its account details it will go into CommSee automatically. It saves work for the customer and gives the account manager a better view of the customer's business."Grimshaw said the pricing of CommBiz was designed to be cheaper than over-the-counter telephone banking alternatives. The biggest cost was the tokens. There will be a one-off charge of $27.50 and a monthly usage fee of $5.50 for each token issued.