NAB forms tech alliance with banks in Canada, Israel

National Australia Bank has formed a strategic alliance with Bank Leumi of Israel and CIBC Bank of Canada which will result in the sharing of some design and development costs for new banking products

The executive general manager of NAB Labs, Jonathan Davey, says NAB is exploring business and regulatory issues around the use of blockchain to move money internationally and will continue to conduct technical tests.

Mr Davey, who is in Israel this week, said Bank Leumi has introduced NAB to start-ups including some working on cyber security and the two banks are collaborating to develop mobile applications and some products.

Other Australian banks have also looked to Israel to bolster cyber security capabilities. Last year, Commonwealth Bank of Australia signed a memorandum of understanding with the chief scientist of Israel to provide CBA to access emerging technology from Israeli start-ups in areas including cyber security and big-data analytics.

Read the article by James Eyers in the Australian Financial Review.