CBA Implements Restrictions on Crypto Payments

The largest bank in Australia, Commonwealth Bank (CBA), has announced that it will decline or temporarily delay certain payments to cryptocurrency exchanges, citing the risk of fraudsters.

The decision comes when a U.S. securities regulator sues two major global exchanges. Just weeks later, another significant Australian bank, Westpac, banned customers from transacting with Binance.

As part of “new measures to help protect customers from scam risks associated with making certain payments to cryptocurrency exchanges,” CBA announced on June 8 that it would decline or place a 24-hour delay on “certain payments to cryptocurrency exchanges.”

A CBA spokesperson said that, for the time being, the bank is not disclosing to the public or its customers which payment types it will block or hold, citing the possibility that fraudsters will circumvent the changes.

In its statement, the bank added that a $10,000 ($6,650) per month limit on consumers sending funds to crypto exchanges to purchase cryptocurrencies would be implemented “in the coming months.”

“As of today, CBA will decline or hold for 24 hours certain cryptocurrency exchange payments. In the coming months, the bank will also impose $10,000 monthly limits on customer payments to exchanges for cryptocurrency purchases, allowing it to identify such transactions.

James Roberts, the general manager of CBA’s fraud management services, asserted that “scammers globally are capitalizing” on the popularity of cryptocurrencies by posing as “legitimate investment opportunities or diverting funds into cryptocurrency exchanges.”

The bank stated that the measure would be “subject to ongoing review” and that it would monitor the measures’ effects.

It is a significant reversal for the bank, which, just over a year and a half ago, in November 2021, planned to introduce crypto trading services for the millions of CommBank app users.

Matt Comyn, the bank’s CEO, then stated that the bank sees “risks in participating but greater risks in not participating” and that “the sector and the technology are not going away any time soon.”

Up until May 2022, Comyn was arguing with regulators over the product’s launch. However, the country’s financial regulators prevailed, and a pilot for the crypto-trading product was shelved.