Online Banking Eclipsed as Focus Moves to Mobile

13 April 2017

Online Banking Eclipsed as Focus Moves to Mobile

Whether motivated by inconvenience or impatience, our desire to conduct our financial affairs on a device we carry in our pockets is driving banks to focus on mobile rather than online banking.

Every year CANSTAR assess new and innovative financial products from across New Zealand. Each product is assessed and evaluated for its degree of innovation and the impact it has not only the banking sector, but on customers too.

CANSTAR’s group manager for research and rating, Mitchell Watson explains:

“Here at CANSTAR we conduct an annual assessment of the new products or services that have emerged onto the New Zealand finance market. Essentially, we are looking for the ‘stand outs’, the ones that have the ‘wow’ factor and the potential to influence and promote change across in the market both nationally and even globally.

“All industries are facing a digital revolution, but it is particularly relevant to the financial industry. This year, the prominent products come from providers who are thinking about not only today, but tomorrow’s customers.”

The two products that stood out as leading the digital charge were both looking to help an age old problem; how we manage our money. While focussing on very different audiences, both products have targeted a customer’s need to manage their money while acknowledging the desire and appetite for speed and convenience.

Keeping track of your cash

Back in the day, pay came in a packet, you put actual money in the bank and handed over notes and coins at the cash desk. In today’s cashless society, PayPass and payWave allow you to spend money at the flick of a wrist, which although convenient, can make it difficult to keep track of spending.

Westpac NZ chief digital officer, Melissa Macfarlane says:

“CashNav was introduced to help our customers better understand and track their spending. Real time alerts via their mobile gives them greater visibility of where their money is going at any given time.”

The success of uptake and long-term use of the app was dependent on how easily it integrates with users’ everyday lives. It was clear customers would value real time insights from their spend data, but it had to be effortless. No spreadsheets, no complicated setting up, just login and everything works.”

Working with an international fintec company, CashNav was developed to give customers a real time insight into the implications of their spending. The result is an app that is free to Westpac every day and credit card customers, and not only tracks their spending, but categorises and displays it in easy to read graphs and monthly comparison meters.

Watson says:

“The New Zealand market had never seen anything like CashNav before. We were very impressed by the speed, ease of use and accessibility of this app. Westpac recognised that to capture the market, they had to lead change, not simply keep up with it. This is a real game-changer and with more releases promised to enhance functionality, it is a market disruptor in every sense.”

Making a visible difference

Since the late sixties, ASB’s younger customers have been putting money away in their Kashin money box. Dropping the coins into the friendly yellow elephant was a great way to encourage kids to save, and when the (ingenious!) hole on the underbelly was added, kids could count their cash – and spend it – whenever they wanted.

Although most of us don’t realise it at the time, the simple money box gives us a tangible exercise in money management, helping us develop our foundation of financial understanding at a young age.

For today’s younger generations EFTPOS, online and on-the-go payments mean that spare change is less likely to be lying around the house, making filling and emptying the money box a bit of a challenge.

For ASB, they knew that the savings ethos had not changed, but to give the kids of today the opportunity to learn about money, the humble money box needed to. Enter Clever Kash, the new and improved interactive money box with digital display.

Clever Kash co-founder and ASB chief architect, James Bergin says:

“ASB didn’t invent the idea of pocket money, but we wanted to re-invent the way it is used as a savings tool for children as society moves to an increasingly cashless environment.

“By giving children the ability to set their own savings target and ‘virtually’ top-up their Clever Kash, we’re making the whole experience interactive, tangible and exciting. We’re giving the kids of today the same experiences that we used to have as kids, but in a way that reflects the financial and digital environment in which they live in. Our whole approach was to give kids something that would keep them engaged in saving and with over 30,000 kids using Clever Kash to date, the results speak for themselves.”

Watson concluded:

“CANSTAR Innovation Award winners represent the very best products. They are the ones we assess to be game changers for New Zealand’s financial landscape and possibly even through to global level. The uniqueness and usability of both this years’ winners certainly have the potential to do that.”

ends

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