Leader Speak

Investing in the age of AI: CommSec’s James Fowle on the future of digital brokerage

The brokerage industry is entering a new phase defined by mobile-first investing, expanding ETF adoption and rapid advances in artificial intelligence. As the Executive General Manager of CommSec, James Fowle is focused on ensuring Australia’s largest online broker evolves alongside these changes while maintaining the confidence of millions of investors. In this interview, he outlines the trends shaping the future of investing and how CommSec is preparing for them.

You stepped into the leadership of CommSec at a time of strong growth and digital transformation. What’s your overarching strategic vision for CommSec over the next 2–3 years and how do you see your leadership shaping that trajectory?

CommSec’s purpose has always been clear: to help more Australians grow their wealth through investing. Our role is not just to provide access to markets, but to build confidence so customers can participate with clarity and conviction.

Over the next two to three years, our focus is centred on three priorities.

First is deepening our customer-first approach. We are obsessing over our customers by listening carefully to feedback, understanding how they invest, and continuously improving the experience based on what they tell us. Success for us is not just innovation for its own sake, but meaningful enhancements that help customers feel informed and supported.

Building confidence is central to that. We do that by providing timely insights and education embedded directly within the investing journey, be it through our Stock Stories, our Media & Markets team’s daily podcasts and video updates, or AI-powered summarisation of news, company announcements and market movements. These tools help customers digest information quickly and make more confident decisions.

Second is breadth of access. CommSec provides access across the investing spectrum, from Australian and international equity markets, listed ETFs to options, margin lending and equity capital markets for our wholesale customers. Whether someone is just beginning or managing more complex strategies, they can access the tools and markets they need within a single, trusted platform.

Third is responsible innovation. AI and advanced technologies are reshaping investing, and we see significant opportunity ahead, with more to come in this space. However, innovation must reinforce trust. We operate within strong governance frameworks to ensure reliability, accuracy and stability. Our position as the investing platform trusted by millions of Australians is something we protect carefully.

My role is to ensure we continue to grow, innovate and expand access — while always maintaining the institutional strength, security and customer confidence that underpin our leadership.

CommSec has seen a marked increase in younger and mobile-first investors. How are you balancing the needs of long-standing, sophisticated traders with the next generation of investors?

We serve a broad customer base, from new investors starting their wealth journey to experienced, frequent traders.

It’s not just younger investors who are mobile first, we’ve seen a significant uplift in mobile engagement across age groups and customer types, including new investors and sophisticated traders. The disparity between mobile and web is narrowing, and we are deliberately deepening our mobile functionality so that it matches the web experience in capability and sophistication.

For customers beginning their investing journey, we absolutely support them in growing wealth. CommSec Pocket is a great entry point. ETFs are a powerful way to diversify, and Pocket allows customers to start from as little as $50.

Beyond Pocket, customers can access every listed ETF via the CommSec app and web platform. If you want to build an ETF portfolio, whether as a new investor or a sophisticated one, CommSec provides the full universe and the tools to support it.

As customers grow in confidence and sophistication, we provide seamless access to direct equities trading, both domestic and international. Our newly launched global order pad enables seamless switching between placing orders for Australian and International equities.

Our goal is simple: meet customers where they want to operate and support them at every stage of their investing life cycle.

CommSec has a long history of pioneering digital access (first online trading, mobile app, educational content). How do you see the role of technology and investor education evolving, especially in areas like data tools, APIs or AI-driven platforms?

Technology is reshaping how investors access information and make decisions.

At CommSec, we integrate insights directly into the trading experience. AI-generated summaries help customers digest company announcements and market news quickly. Stock Stories contextualise performance and trends. Our partnership with Morningstar provides trusted research.

This is only the beginning in the AI space — there is more to come as we continue to responsibly deploy advanced technologies that enhance insight, personalisation and efficiency.

All of this is delivered within strong governance frameworks, because innovation without trust has no long-term value.

CommSec integrates third-party research, including Morningstar’s ratings and insights, within its platform tools and services. How do you view the role of high-quality investment research in empowering your clients and how do these relationships help shape CommSec’s product roadmap?

High-quality research plays a critical role in helping customers grow their wealth with confidence. Access to markets alone is not enough — customers need trusted insights to interpret information and make informed decisions.

Our customers consistently tell us they value independent, credible research, but they also want it delivered in a way that fits how they consume information today. That means surfacing key takeaways, ratings changes and thematic commentary directly within the investing experience, not requiring customers to search for it elsewhere.

Our partnership with Morningstar is an important part of that. It ensures customers have access to respected, credible ratings and research depth. At the same time, we complement that with our own content ecosystem, including Stock Stories, AI-powered summaries of company announcements and market news, and insights from our Media & Markets team through daily podcasts, video updates and regular market commentary.

The objective is to combine institutional-grade research with modern delivery formats. We are not just providing data; we are helping customers interpret it.

Ultimately, confidence is built when trusted research, timely insights and intuitive tools work together. That is the role research plays within the CommSec platform.

With a broader universe of digital brokers and fintech challengers gaining traction, how does CommSec plan to maintain its leadership particularly in areas like mobile experience, international trading and education?

Our position as Australia’s leading online broker rests on four strengths.

First is breadth of offering. We provide full-service domestic and international trading, integrated research, education and a strong mobile experience, delivering value across a comprehensive platform. Importantly, while we are a digital platform, customers can also pick up the phone and speak to a real person if they need additional support.

Second is continuous innovation. From enhancements to the order pad to intuitive stock insights and ongoing mobile improvements, we are constantly evolving the customer experience.

Third is a genuinely customer-first mindset. We are truly focused on our customers — actively listening to their feedback, measuring satisfaction closely and using those insights to continuously improve the platform. That ongoing commitment to refinement and responsiveness is a key differentiator for us.

Fourth is trust and stability. Being part of one of Australia’s largest financial institutions gives customers confidence, particularly during periods of volatility. Reliability, resilience and robust security are essential in brokerage. Importantly, while we are a digitally advanced platform, customers can also pick up the phone and speak to a real person if they need additional support.

The combination of breadth, innovation, customer focus and institutional strength is central to remaining Australia’s leading online broker.

Looking ahead 5-6 years, what major trends (technology, regulation, investor behaviour) do you believe will redefine the brokerage landscape and how is CommSec preparing for them?

Several structural shifts will shape the next phase of investing.

The continued rise of ETFs is likely to accelerate as investors seek diversified, low-cost exposure across sectors and geographies. We are ensuring our platform makes ETF investing intuitive and accessible.

What differentiates CommSec is our ability to surface ETFs alongside contextual insights that support confident decision-making. We help customers understand what they are investing in and why.

At the same time, we provide breadth. As customers become more sophisticated, they can seamlessly expand into direct equities, options, margin lending and equity capital markets. We grow with them across their investing lifecycle.

Investor behaviour will continue to shift toward mobile-first engagement, shorter attention cycles and demand for digestible insights. Delivering research and market information in accessible formats, will become increasingly important.

Technology, particularly AI, will further transform information processing and personalisation. At the same time, regulatory scrutiny and governance expectations will increase.

Fraud and cybercrime will also remain a major focus. Protecting customers through resilient infrastructure, data protection and continuous security upgrades is critical. Innovation and safety must progress together.

Beyond headline growth metrics like active users and trade volumes, what are some other KPIs or measures of client success that you consider significant? Why?

For us, customer outcomes are the ultimate measure of success.

Net Promoter Score and customer satisfaction are our most important indicators. They tell us whether customers feel informed, supported and confident in growing their wealth.

We listen closely to feedback to understand where we’ve done well and where we haven’t. We then take specific, purposeful actions to improve. Continuous improvement is core to our culture.

If our customers are confident, satisfied and advocating for us, that is the strongest marker that we are succeeding.

What are you currently reading / listening to?

On most days, I start by reading the financial press to understand what has happened overnight and what it might mean for markets locally. I subscribe to The New York Times because developments in the US have a significant influence on Australia. I also follow intraday financial news to keep track of market movements. I enjoy podcasts on many topics on an ad hoc basis – and my wife usually has a long list of things she thinks I should listen to. When on holiday, I enjoy getting lost in fiction, typically thrillers or action novels, while still keeping an eye on major news developments.