Commonwealth Bank has expanded its app into the travel and automotive sectors, adding new features that streamline the holiday booking and car purchase journeys for users.

The new services were added based on customers' saving goals and spending trends, with the CommBank app used by over 8.5 million customers on a regular basis - the average customer logs in more than 42 times a month. Usage has increased significantly since 2014, when the average customer logged in around 15 times a month.

The new additions aim to provide customers with an integrated and personalised view of their finances and access to exclusive deals. The Travel Booking service is provided by Hopper, while the car buying service aims to streamline the car buying process, helping customers understand potential repayments, source a deal, and easily apply for finance.

“Cost of living is understandably top of mind for many of our customers and having an extended line of sight into key expenses, saving goals, budgets, and investments all in one place can help them feel more on top of their finances," said CommBank’s Executive General Manager Customer Engagement and Digital, Meg Bonighton. “Travel and car buying are typically major purchases, and our aim is to make these experiences more seamless and secure for our customers, as well as helping them save money where we can through a number of exclusive deals.

It follows the 2018 addition of the Goal Tracker feature, with travel consistently dominating as the most popular goal amongst the 3.2 million goals that have been set.

“The popularity of travel-related savings goals and the trends we were seeing in our customers’ travel-related transactions led us to team up with Hopper, one of the world’s most popular travel agencies, to launch a Travel Booking service available via the CommBank app,” Bonighton said.

Eligible customers can now access Travel Booking to search, book and pay for flights and hotels from hundreds of airlines and hundreds of thousands of hotels.

Meanwhile, CommBank will connect customers to a selection of car listings provided by carsales and Vyro, with customers able to gain conditional approval for personalised finance, and filter by options in their budget with loan repayment amounts displayed during the search.

Customers with an existing car may also be eligible to get an 'Instant Offer' from carsales and sell in as fast as 24 hours.

“We know our customers want more help buying cars, particularly EVs and hybrids,” CommBank Executive General Manager Consumer Finance, Marcos Meneguzzi said. “Our car loan numbers are up 29 per cent over the past year and loans for hybrid or electric vehicles are up by 45 per cent.11 That’s why we’re working with carsales and Vyro to launch a car buying service that delivers more value for customers.”

“After a customer purchases a car through the CommBank app or Netbank, they’ll be able to house all the financial and ancillary services to do with the car – such as insurance or home charging solutions – in one place in the CommBank app,” Meneguzzi said.