The Commonwealth Bank of Australia's (CBA) competitors are no longer just Westpac, ANZ Bank and the National Australia Bank (NAB), but also tech firms such as Apple and Google, CBA Chief Executive Ian Narev said on Tuesday.

He cited the entry of these giant tech firms into financial services made possible by the offer of faster Internet speeds and fast development of smartphone applications which opened the door for the entry of non-bank players in the payment industry.

"We consider we have got very, very good competitors in the major banks, we have got very good competitors in the next tier banks ... We worry every day about all those competitors but we worry equally about the niche players, many of them well resources, many of them international," he said at the G100 Congress held in Sydney.

He pinpointed Apple, Google, Samsung and Paypal as well as credit companies which he pointed out could "pick particular slivers as a result of the application of technology into financial service and compete."

Mr Narev said the banking industry should be prepared to compete with these tech firms. He pushed for minimum standard that should apply to any institution trusted with accepting money from the public.

The tech firms have wallet payment systems that consumers could use through apps on a mobile phone or other smart devices pay for goods, instead of using cash or credit cards.

NAB observed that banks that would fail to deal with technology from top to bottom would find it hard to be competitive in the next decade.

RELATED STORIES