CommBank AI business loans tool moves into credit workflow

Commonwealth Bank is preparing an AI “companion” for business-loan applications, pushing generative AI into a customer-facing part of the lending process. SmartCompany reported the tool is being designed to help with income verification and other application steps, moving CommBank’s AI work beyond staff assistance and into a live credit workflow for small-business customers.

That development is notable because Australian banks have spent the past year talking up AI for customer service, fraud detection and internal productivity. Fewer have shown how generative systems might be used near lending. For CommBank, the question is how much of a regulated borrowing process it can automate while still giving customers, bankers and risk teams a clear record of what the system is doing.

CommBank has spent months laying the groundwork. In its February AI adoption report, the bank said its internal Compass AI tool had answered more than 500,000 questions since July 2024 and made business-banking knowledge-base searches about three times faster. The same report said 27,600 employees had joined its AI learning series by the end of 2025. CommBank also said it spent $900 million in FY2025 on fraud, scam, cyber-threat and financial-crime protections.

CommBank has framed that work as a governance exercise as much as a productivity project.

“We’ve heard that stakeholders want to better understand how AI is being used across the Bank and our approach to managing the risks associated with its adoption.”
— Matt Comyn, CommBank newsroom

A business-loan companion would put that message to a tougher test. Income checks and application handling sit close to responsible-lending controls, customer disclosure and audit trails. CommBank has not set out the full boundary between the tool and a human lender. But the reported design suggests the bank is prepared to let software sort and process more of the intake work before a banker makes the credit decision.

Small-business lending is an obvious place to try it. Applications often involve repetitive document collection, income cross-checks and repeated follow-up with customers. Even modest automation could cut turnaround times. In the same February report, CommBank said Compass AI was helping frontline teams spend more time on customer needs, which is the same pitch in lending: fewer manual steps and faster routing of routine tasks.

The boundary with advice is still narrow. In an earlier ABC News report on AI in mortgage assessments and call centres, IBRS analyst Joe Sweeney said banks could automate parts of the workflow without straying into higher-risk guidance.

“The banking sector is not allowed to offer financial advice above the most basic levels.”
— Joe Sweeney, ABC News

That leaves speed and consistency as the more likely commercial gain for CommBank, rather than a fully autonomous lending bot. If AI can gather documents, check income details and route an application faster, the bank can take friction out of small-business lending without claiming the software decides who receives credit.

For the wider fintech market, the rollout could reset expectations. Smaller lenders and software providers have spent years selling faster onboarding and credit assessment to SMEs. If a major bank starts using generative AI inside its own lending funnel, rivals that kept AI closer to support roles may need to respond.

CommBank’s next challenge is execution. The bank will need to show the companion can shorten turnaround times without creating compliance problems, false confidence or another opaque system that staff must explain after the fact. If it clears that test, the story shifts from an internal AI assistant to one of the first customer-facing credit workflow examples that other Australian lenders will be forced to watch.