NAB has bolstered measures to automatically block abusive and threatening transaction descriptions.
NAB has been actively blocking abusive transactions on internet banking since November 2020, and just this March, blocked more than 10,000 abusive transactions from 6,800 unique customers.
Under the changes, payments in the NAB app on iOS and Android that feature offensive words and phrases won’t be processed. Customers get a real-time message advising them to change the description for the transaction so it can proceed.
Rachel Slade, NAB group executive personal banking, said the bank would continue to ensure digital transactions wouldn’t be used for abuse.
“We have approximately 1,300 words and phrases that are now blocked in the NAB app in addition to internet banking protection measures being enhanced recently,” Slade said. “Our system is now smarter than ever. It can now instantly recognise special characters and spaces that have been substituted in banned words and phrases. Equally, it can recognise if a word should be allowed because it matches the account holder’s legal name or the business’s name. This kind of abuse can impact all types of customers, from teenagers using transactions to bully others, to intimate partners committing financial abuse.”
To reduce the prevalence of this behaviour, the bank executive urged customers to contact NAB if they receive abusive or threatening messages.
The changes will apply to all commonly-used payment types.
Julie Inman Grant, eSafety commissioner, commended NAB for taking active steps towards adopting a safety by design approach to protect customers from online abuse. Safety by design was about helping and encouraging the industry to place user safety at the heart of product design and development.
“We believe it’s this initiative that will really move the needle in tackling online abuse and prevent many of the online harms we deal with every day from happening in the first place,” Inman Grant said.
NAB has a trained and dedicated team who review information on blocked transactions, issue warnings, and refer customers to support services. The bank also recently introduced an acceptable electronic banking use policy to call out unlawful uses of NAB’s electronic banking channels. This includes making threatening and abusive comments to any person.
“The policy gives NAB the right to terminate banking services for this kind of behaviour,” Slade said.
