{"id":8035,"date":"2018-10-10T08:00:43","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T21:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/?p=8035"},"modified":"2018-10-10T12:58:36","modified_gmt":"2018-10-10T01:58:36","slug":"up-ushers-in-a-new-digital-age-for-australian-banks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/features\/up-ushers-in-a-new-digital-age-for-australian-banks\/","title":{"rendered":"“Up” ushers in a new digital age for Australian banks"},"content":{"rendered":"
Today I went to the launch of a bank. Now there’s something you don’t say everyday… or maybe you do? Australia’s banking market is so crowded that on average every single adult has at least three active accounts & relationships with seperate banks. So while to launch a new bank in what is an extremely saturated market might seem like madness to us, to Dom Pym and ex AFL coach Grant Thomas, co-founders of Up<\/a><\/strong>, creating a bank that was designed around “living” seemed like something they had to do.<\/p>\n “Disruption isn’t the reason for us to do it.”<\/em>, Pym tells me at the typically wet weathered Melbourne launch. “It will be the rhetoric used, but our goal is to create technology led banking and not banking led technology. There’s a subtle difference there but it’s a big one.”<\/em> And Pym should know, he’s worked in the banking sector for decades. The co-founder of Pin Payments<\/a> and also banking software development house Ferocia<\/a>, his team has worked closely on projects involving Australia’s big four banks and was responsible for Bendigo Bank’s digital infrastructure.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pym & Ferocia’s relationship with Bendigo Bank is an important one. It’s what allows Up<\/em> to exist. Whilst completely independent from Bendigo Bank it still relies on the bank to serve as its encumbered underwriter. Customer’s money will be secured by Bendigo but that is where the relationship begins and ends as Up’s<\/em> products, or “superpowers<\/em>” as they eye-rollingly like to call them, differ in almost every way.<\/p>\n For a start, getting an account with Up<\/em> is as simple as downloading their app, entering your name and verifying your ID. From there you not only have access to a fully functioning account with your BSB & account details right in front of you, for iOS users (and very soon Android ones too), you’ll also have ApplePay setup and ready to go. No waiting for a card to arrive in the mail (although one will soon), no filling out forms and jumping through verification hoops, just BAM, an account ready to use in what takes an average of around two and a half minutes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One of the new bank’s most impressive features at launch is called “Naked Truth<\/a>“. It’s a very smart and feature-rich version of your old school statement that whilst most players now bless us with a more up to date transactional history Up’s<\/em> goes to a whole new level. Up<\/em> describes it as “complete clarity on when, where and how you spend your money”<\/em> and that sums it nicely.<\/p>\n For a start, instead of seeing weird business names that mean absolutely nothing to anyone you’ll see the name of the actual cafe you bought your coffee in. They do this through a combination of crowd sourcing and business partnerships that allow them to nail down exactly where and whom you bought something from instead of using their unruly bank registered merchant details. They’ll also record the location of your phone (if you allow it) and time of day the actual transaction took place at, so even if the true name isn’t available you can better track down where you spent your money and on what instead of freaking out and starting to cancel your cards because you think someone’s stolen your details.<\/p>\n Once in your transaction history every transaction you make is group against the seller meaning you can now see how much you’re spending on your coffees at the local cafe each month, or get the shock of your life when you see how much you’ve spent altogether. It sounds simple but they’re features you just don’t have with your current bank and when you see how quick and easy it is you’ll wonder why they’ve been so long coming.<\/p>\n
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