Making it easier for Australians to bank with ANZ
ANZ today announced a major investment program for its Australian business designed to make it easier for Australians to bank with ANZ.
The ‘Banking on Australia’ program involves an upgrade of ANZ’s distribution networks; simplifying products and processes; providing customers with additional mobile and flexible banking options; further improving the capability of front-line staff; and initiatives to continue our support of local communities.
Up to $1.5 billion of ANZ’s existing investment plan will be directed to the ‘Banking on Australia’ program over the next five years. The program is also expected to deliver significant productivity improvements.
ANZ CEO Australia Philip Chronican said: “A key pillar of ANZ’s super regional strategy is maintaining a leadership position in Australia and the Banking on Australia program is about investing in our business to make it easier for more Australians to bank with ANZ, while also simplifying the way we do business.”
As part of today’s announcement, ANZ confirmed a series of immediate initiatives designed to improve the customers’ banking experience with ANZ.
“We are accelerating plans to renovate branches with 46 to be completed by the end of the year. We’ve engaged leading Australian interior designers, Geyer, to help us design our branches in a way that facilitates better conversations by removing some of the physical barriers that currently exist,” Mr Chronican said.
“As part of this, we’ve been piloting the use of Cisco’s videoconferencing technology in remote branches and we will be the first bank in Australia to use this technology on a major scale, providing regional customers with better access to specialist advice.
“There will also be a significant investment in our online channels which will include the introduction of live chat on anz.com and other services to improve the overall digital experience for our customers including the immediate launch of ANZ FastPay,” Mr Chronican said.
ANZ FastPay is Australia’s first mobile banking app that allows small businesses to more effectively manage their cash flow by securely processing same day settlement of credit and debit card payments using an iPhone or iPad.
ANZ also confirmed that it will today launch a trial of ANZ mobile wallet, which is a contactless mobile phone payments system using NFC technology on Android devices.
“A trial of an ANZ mobile wallet will kick off today. This will see 25 of our staff, including me, live testing our solution with the aim to make this available to our customers in mid2013,” Mr Chronican said.
“We know our customers prefer to do their day-to-day transactions in their own time either online or by using mobile devices so our task is to respond to this change by embracing the online and digital challenge and enable our customers to bank with us on their terms,” Mr Chronican said.
800 of NCR’s ‘next generation’ intelligent ATMs will be progressively introduced into our branches from next year, providing 24-hour access to many transactions that are traditionally done in branches such as providing instant value for cash or cheque deposits.
“The upgrade also means that we will be more readily able to introduce cutting edge technology that makes banking easier such as contactless or cardless transactions,” Mr Chronican said.
Other initiatives announced today included:
- Upskilling our staff to provide them with the new capabilities they need to have more in-depth conversations with their customers about their financial needs.
- Committing $20 million over the next five years to continue the work we have done in improving the financial literacy levels of vulnerable Australians.
“For 10 years now, ANZ has worked with community partners to deliver financial literacy programs to around 200,000 people in 270 communities across Australia. This is because we firmly believe that being able to manage your money and make the right financial decisions is an essential life skill,” Mr Chronican said.