Westpac promises 'game changing' mobile banking developments before year's end

By Gareth Vaughan

Fresh from becoming the first New Zealand bank to allow customers to both apply and gain approval for home loans via their mobile phones, Westpac is pledging to unveil more "big changes" in mobile banking before the end of the year including "game changing" developments.

Callum Wilson, Westpac's general manager for customer strategy and experience, told interest.co.nz the bank had "quite big changes" in the wings, which it plans to unmask before the end of 2013.

"We are launching some payments functionality which we think will be of great interest to both consumers and also small businesses," Wilson said.

"And we also have some, what we think are, potentially game changing changes in terms of the way mobile banking's done, which we'll be looking to introduce later this year (probably around Christmas). The concept we're working on we don't think anyone else is working on locally and we haven't seen anyone else working on it internationally." 

Westpac was making "significant investment" in mobile banking, with its biggest investment on mobile applications to date coming this year.

"We have stepped up our investment. We've also stepped up the intensity of focus and the calibre of the team significantly," Wilson said. "We're operating at a speed of change that we've never had in the past."

Apart from its own staff, Westpac is also tapping into external people and technology, including "some of the classic IBM type technologies" and several local companies including Alphero and Silverstripe.

Wilson said the vision was to enable "self service everywhere, all the time" for customers.

"That's the option we want to create for people. I really think people are going to take that option in droves just because it's going to be so simple, so transparent and they'll have a lot of confidence going through that process. It just requires the banks to design them (mobile apps) really, really well," said Wilson.

'You can do it in five minutes'

He was speaking after the bank announced an upgrade of its existing mobile app that enables customers to apply for, and gain approval, for a home loan via their mobile phone. A loan application via mobile phone, initially just via iPhones, requires basically all the the information required from customers for a traditional home loan application, Wilson said.

He doesn't expect the take up to be as high for mobile phone loan applications and approvals as it has been for Westpac's online home loan applications, which having launched as recently as last October, now comprise 10% of all Westpac's home loan approvals.

 "That's because it's just harder to fill out a form with that amount of detail on a mobile phone," said Wilson. "But it's certainly doable, you can do it in five minutes."

 Once made a loan application via mobile phone goes to Westpac's automated credit decision tool.

 "It takes the data and puts it straight into the same engine that our bankers use and that will make the decision. Effectively it creates three buckets - approved on the spot, declined on the spot and might get approved but we need to have a longer conversation and make a human decision," Wilson said.

"For a huge number of people, as long as you've got credit information, income levels, value of the property, you know how much you're borrowing, you can actually make a decision straight away."

However, there is one condition to online and mobile phone approvals.

"When it (the loan application) comes back and says approved, it is subject to us verifying your documents. So if you've typed in your income, approval is subject to that actually being your income. We will require you to prove it when you come in to get your loan."

 Wilson said Westpac was confident its mobile phone loan application service was safe. And lending standards were identical to loan applications through any other channels.

 What are the other big banks doing in mobile banking?

A spokesman for ANZ told interest.co.nz the country's biggest bank had nearly finished the development of "significant updates" to its goMoney mobile phone app for both iPhones and Android, and was targeting an early September release for its updates.

"The updates will bring the same functionality to both apps - iPhone users will be able to access their Bill Payee list from internet banking and make bill payments, while Android users will be able to login with a four-digit PIN, as well as make Pay to Mobile payments."

"Customers will be able to use the app on their multiple devices. For home loans, we will be updating our online calculators and tools so customers will be able to access them on their mobile phones," the ANZ spokesman said.

A BNZ spokeswoman said her bank had no immediate plans to enable customers to apply for home loans via their mobile phone. However, last September BNZ had given customers the option of  opening a new account with BNZ via its mobile app.

Furthermore, BNZ had been the first bank to offer banking on three mobile platforms - iPhone, Android and a mobile optimised website.

'To date there has now been around 6 million transactions worth around $3 billion in total payments through mobile. Plus, 25 million log ins to date – 2.7 million alone in June," the BNZ spokeswoman said. 

BNZ was doing all this in New Zealand, in-house.

Further enhancements in the BNZ pipeline include being about to launch updates so customers can add and edit saved payees, an iPad app for all customers, payments authorisations for businesses, and letting customers open extra accounts via BNZ apps.

At ASB Michael Ramsay, the bank's head of digital experience and commerce, said the bank had previewed a new ASB Mobile Business App at Xerocon 2013.

"Once launched later this year, ASB Mobile Business will allow users to view FastNet Business balances, send and authorise payments, view payee information, and perform a range of other banking tasks," Ramsay said.

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