Rejuvenating consumers’ financial health
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Bank of New Zealand: where technology is revitalising customers’ financial health
WRITTEN BY
LAURA MULLAN PRODUCED BY
ANDREW STUBBINGS
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BANK OF NEW ZEALAND (BNZ)
Want to better manage your finances? Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) is showing customers how it’s done
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f you want to start a new chapter in a faroff country, one of the first logistical hurdles you’ll face is creating a local bank
account. This was exactly the case when Stephen Bowe touched down in Australia just over a decade ago. “Being new to the country, I needed a bank account. I actually tried opening accounts with several different banks, but in each case the whole pro04
cess was awful,” Bowe recalls. “I vividly remember walking through Sydney’s CBD (central business district) thinking to myself, ‘If I ever get the chance to start a bank that’s genuinely focused on the customer, I’ll show them how to do it...’ I suppose the moral of the story is be careful what you wish for.” Fast-forward a year and Bowe had gotten his wish. He left his career in telecoms and joined a bank, helping the National Australia Bank (NAB) launch a new online bank called UBank. “Ever since then I’ve been super passionate about how to make banking better for customers and specifically how to do that online,” Bowe enthuses. “I think if you look at banks around the world, they all talk about how they’re trying to focus on the customer, but it’s quite clear that in many geographies, they have failed to do that adequately.” Bowe also points out that
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1861
Year founded
5,000
Approximate number of employees
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BANK OF NEW ZEALAND (BNZ)
“ We can see that we’re making a difference for our customers. We’ve found that people who use our platform to compartmentalise their money are hitting their goals 06 more frequently. They’re saving greater amounts of their income” — Stephen Bowe, General Manager, Digital Bank of New Zealand
despite widespread adoption of digital services by customers, it’s important not to equate usage with good service. “Just because you’ve seen exponential growth in mobile banking usage, it doesn’t mean that your app is any good. The reality is that even if it was rubbish, people would still use it in droves because of the convenience it provides.” Instead, banks need to think much more deeply about how they create value for their customers in their everyday lives. Today, Bowe is making his mark at NAB subsidiary, Bank of New Zealand (BNZ), as the firm’s GM, Digital & Applications. He and his team have been tasked with delivering state of the art customer experiences to the 155-year-old bank by tapping into the wealth of digital tools at the financial sector’s fingertips. “If you look at most digital banking offerings around the world today, they pretty much all look and feel the same. It’s a one size fits all proposition where customer interactions are largely transactional, and the service is increasingly commoditised. The whole process is unexceptional… but it doesn’t have to be like that.” And so, Bowe and his team searched
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘BANK OF NEW ZEALAND – WHAT ELLA WANTS’ 07 for a different way to help BNZ stand
good with money, so they can do great
out from the crowd. Instead of trying to
things with it. Essentially, we want them
simply improve the current paradigm
to achieve better financial outcomes,
of online banking, they went back to the
however they define those outcomes
drawing board and spent a significant
for themselves,” says Bowe.
amount of effort to decipher what
With this in mind, BNZ created a
customers really want from their bank.
brand new online banking platform
Whether trying to pay off a mortgage or
called YouMoney, that specifically
saving for a wedding, most customers
focused on helping customers man-
are trying to make their bank balances
age their money more effectively.
stretch to meet the needs of their daily
Customers can set up as many
lives. That spurred BNZ to make
accounts or ‘pots’ as they want. They
financial wellness a core mantra for
can then personalise them by adding
the firm. “At BNZ, our whole purpose
photos and goals, as well as moving
is based around helping customers be
money effortlessly using a novel drag w w w.bn z . co. n z
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“ We’re aiming to make BNZ the premier place to work in digital in New Zealand” — Stephen Bowe, General Manager, Digital Bank of New Zealand
and drop capability. “It just looks completely different,” enthuses Bowe. “It’s highly personalised; it doesn’t resemble the traditional ledger of most platforms. Instead we’ve focused on design to add the little details that delight customers. We’ve asked ourselves: ‘How can we make each digital banking experience remarkable? How do we create everyday exceptional experiences?’ We’re working to turn an average experience into an awesome
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
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Stephen Bowe Originally from the UK, Stephen’s career started in telecommunications, working with clients such as BT, Vodafone and Cable & Wireless. In 2006 Stephen moved to Sydney and shortly after joined NAB as part of the team that originally set up UBank, where he held a variety of roles including Head of User Experience and Digital Media. In 2012 Stephen made the short trip across the Tasman to join BNZ to lead the bank’s digital team, with accountability for all customer facing online channels. Whilst at BNZ, Stephen and his team are relentlessly focused on transforming banking for the better, specifically by creating remarkable banking experiences online, which are truly focused on the customer. Overall the team’s aim is to bring to life BNZ’s goal of helping people be good with money, so they can do great things with it.
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BANK OF NEW ZEALAND (BNZ)
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“ We think helping customers be good with money is a fantastic challenge to rally in behind. We can make a material impact for New Zealanders financial wellbeing by helping them be good with money” — Stephen Bowe, General Manager, Digital Bank of New Zealand
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Skills a commodity in the new cloud economy How cloud transformation is hindered by a skills gap
Cloud is becoming an increasingly important driver for economies. A report from Deloitte has found organizations are both thriving and being challenged by the burgeoning prominence of cloud. Key drivers behind adoption of cloud services are delivering better customer service and keeping pace with innovative competitors. But a common challenge, which often hampers progress, is the lack of cloud education – the shortage of institutional cloud knowledge and lack of technical cloud skills within organizations. It’s a challenge for IT, but also for non-technical staff as they grapple business prerogatives in the new cloud paradigm.
Taking up the challenge
Creating the future together
AWS has taken up this challenge, with organisations including NAB and Sportsbet rolling out the AWS Skills Guild partnership program. This large-scale cloud training program helps organizations build cloud skills in-house whilst delivering broad based understanding of cloud thinking. This enables staff to effectively adopt, participate in and lead digital transformation initiatives.
NAB, for example, has created its own Cloud Guild, and incorporated the AWS program, with thousands of staff undergoing foundational training and hundreds more advancing to become AWS Certified – thereby growing a priceless skills base on which to build a more modern organization. NAB is now enjoying the economic benefits of cloud, with adoption continuously accelerating.
Get the insights Download the report today to get perspectives on benefits and challenges from businesses who have already embarked on their cloud transformation journey, including NAB, nib, Finder and Fugro Roames. Get insights into the business use cases for cloud services, their drivers for adopting cloud and the impacts on business operations.
www.awsinsight.com.au/cloudvalue
The economic value of cloud services in Aust ralia AWS 2019
experience.” This digital transforma-
seem a daunting task. To tackle this
tion is already starting to see dividends:
financial challenge, BNZ also launched
BNZ was named Best Consumer
a new feature that allows customers
Digital Bank in New Zealand and Most
to change their mortgage payments
Innovative Digital Bank in Asia-Pacific
online and make micropayments.
at the 2018 Global Finance awards.
“Since it launched, we’ve been able to
Customers are also reaping the
save BNZ customers over NZD$585m
benefits, contends Bowe. “We can see
in future interest payments. We’ve
that we’re making a difference for our
knocked more than 135,000 years off
customers. We’ve found that people
mortgages and the average customer
who use our platform to compart-
has saved over NZD$10,000.” The
mentalise their money are hitting their
most interesting fact up Bowe’s sleeve
goals more frequently. They’re saving
though, is that 67% of people’s changes
greater amounts of their income.” With
have cost less than $50 a fortnight –
many people keen to get on the prop-
that’s the cost of a cup of coffee per day.
erty ladder, repaying a mortgage can
It’s worth noting that BNZ has not
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BANK OF NEW ZEALAND (BNZ)
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CLICK TO WATCH : ‘BANK OF NEW ZEALAND – WAKE UP YOUR KIWISAVER ACCOUNT’ 15 only zeroed in on the customer expe-
a diverse ecosystem of digital firms.
rience, but it’s also been keen to
“We’re working to create an environ-
reimagine the employee experience
ment where digital natives want to
too. As the war for talent heats up and
work,” he adds. “Everything from our
businesses scramble to attract and
customer research rooms to our break
retain top talent, Bank of New Zealand
out areas reflect our digital ethos”
has pushed ahead with cutting-edge
Additionally, in a bid to boost talent
employee initiatives. This is perhaps
retention, the firm has worked hard
best encapsulated by the firm’s digitally-
to upskill its staff, setting its sights on
savvy new premises in Wellington.
the up-and-coming realm of cloud
“We’re aiming to make BNZ the
computing. In fact, Bowe points out
premier place to work in digital in New
how BNZ’s parent firm, NAB, has
Zealand,” explains Bowe, noting how
more AWS-certified engineers than
the firm is not only contending with
any other organisation in the whole
other banks, but also competing with
of Australia, other than Amazon Web w w w.bn z . co. n z
BANK OF NEW ZEALAND (BNZ)
C O M PA N Y FACT S
• Today, Bank of New Zealand employs over 5,000 people in New Zealand • The firm has 153 branches across the country
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Services (AWS) of course. “We’re on course to replicate that here in New Zealand at BNZ.” At the end of the day, most of BNZ’s initiatives revolve around one common aim: improving its customers’ financial wellbeing. As customers focus on saving – whether managing day-to-day income and expenses, building up a rainy-day fund or saving for retirement – banks increasingly are recognising that they have a duty to help customers navigate these challenges and promote better financial health. BNZ has clearly put this ethos into motion with its digital transformation efforts. It’s this, says Bowe, which distinguishes BNZ from the pack. “I feel we have a strong sense of purpose,” he reflects. “We think helping customers be good with money is a fantastic challenge to rally behind. We can make a material impact for New Zealanders financial wellbeing by helping them be good with money.”
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Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) www.bnz.co.nz