Westpac NZ and Samsung collaborate on digital banking innovations
- 20 May, 2014 10:18
Westpac New Zealand and Samsung Electronics New Zealand have signed a strategic collaboration agreement to develop digital banking innovations.
Westpac says this is the first agreement of its type in New Zealand, and that the global electronics company has signed for delivery of financial banking services.
Samsung will give Westpac early access to its smart devices. This means the bank can work with Samsung in developing financial applications and services that will be ready when the device is available for purchase, as it did with the Galaxy S5 smartphone and finger scanner. Those innovations will be available on select Samsung smart devices in New Zealand and may include smartphones, tablets, smart watches and Smart TVs.
This also benefits Westpac’s digital strategy based around a new central internet banking platform that is fully responsive and allows customers to use smart devices to do their mobile banking.
Samsung says as of February this year, it had sold more than 200 million units of its Galaxy smartphone range globally. Westpac currently has more than eight million visits a month to its online banking with that number set to increase significantly as its fully responsive online banking platform rolls out to all customers by the end of the year.
Westpac CEO Peter Clare, says the rollout of the new portal is the centrepiece of its digital strategy and partnering with Samsung for future development and knowledge sharing will help Westpac achieve its goal to be New Zealand’s leading digital bank and the best digital bank globally.
“Once complete, our fully responsive online banking platform will deliver all banking capability online that currently requires the customer to visit a branch or call our contact centre,” says Clare. “Being able to collaborate with Samsung and share knowledge and insights will help us deliver industry leading innovation that Samsung can take to the world.”
“Kiwis are renowned for being early adopters of technology,” says Kenny Yeon, managing director of Samsung New Zealand. “By providing Westpac with advance access to our smart devices and working together to develop customised content, applications and services, we can help our New Zealand customers to stay on top of their finances in a safe, secure and convenient way when on-the-move.”
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