Digicom Technology News

ANZ Banking Group will spend hundreds of millions over five years on technology to attract the next generation of tech-savvy customers amid a spending war by the major banks.

“Customer expectations about what they can expect to do either online or on their mobiles have changed dramatically in recent years and it’s driven by the way they’re conditioned by what other providers do,” he said. “We know that we can’t stand stillbecause it’s a competitive environment.”

Mr Chronican said ANZ’s strategy would involve investing smartphone applications that allow instant money transfers. It would also include transforming bank branches to have more video conferencing suites and better automatic teller machines.

The bank will roll out more than 800 next-generation ATMs from 2013, all of which will be able to handle cash and cheque deposits in real time. Previous ATMs allowed deposits but needed employees to process the funds, which slowed settlement by several days.

ANZ will deploy Cisco video conferencing units to 43 regional branches in a bid to replace roaming financial specialists with a 'hub-and-spoke' approach. The technology is an extension of ANZ's existing Cisco telepresence networks in major city headquarters and provides on-demand access to ANZ's Melbourne specialists from other branches nationwide. ANZ began trialling the regional network in April this year. The system has since been used 150 times by remote staff, including those in the bank's Alice Springs branch, which does not usually have such access. The smaller units, which also provide access to desktop sharing for presentations and application access, are capable of high definition conferencing but will largely function in standard definition with encryption for an average bandwidth requirement of 384 kilobits per second. “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,” Chronican said.

Australia’s banks are increasingly competing for the younger demographic through smartphone and tablet apps. Commonwealth Bank of Australia received plaudits for its Kaching tool, and ANZ’s goMoney app has already been well received.Banks are facing increasing competitive pressure to make their services mobile. Commonwealth Bank chief information officer Michael Harte recently said that the future of banking lies in recreating the 'old fashioned' banking experience of personalised service using the potential of mobile devices, whole-of-life customer data and real-time transactions.