Commonwealth Bank of Australia plans to improve its retail security systems including anti-skimming devices on ATMs as part of its bid to provide a secure banking experience for customers.

The new initiatives currently being rolled out by the bank include anti-skimming devices across its automatic teller machines (ATMs), voice activated telephone alerts (Adeptra) for suspected fraudulent credit card transactions enabling increased card security for customers, gas detection and dye systems in ATMs to deter tampering, two factor identification for online card and NetBank transactions and continued roll-out of ‘Chip Authentication’ on credit and debit cards, making card payments secure.

Ross McEwan, group executive of retail banking services at Commonwealth Bank, said: “The anti-skimming devices are a significant security investment for the bank and will assist in preventing fraudulent activity. We have been piloting these systems and are implementing them across the bank’s ATM network.

“The system triggers an automated call to the customer to ascertain the legitimacy of a recent transaction via a pre-recorded script followed by prompts to follow for further action where required. While this does not completely eradicate fraudulent activity, it does ensure that accounts can be shut down quickly to limit the impact on the customer, and allow remediation action to begin quickly and efficiently to return customers’ funds.

“Fraudsters and thieves are unfortunately becoming more and more sophisticated and bold in their methods and we are committed to investing whatever we need to in order to stay ahead of their game.”