Growing digital, shrinking branches - Westpac CEO
(9 September 2015 - Australia) On Tuesday, Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer, announced that the bank will increase its annual investment spending by 20% to A$1.3 billion, concentrating the new money on technology and digital initiatives while shrinking the bank branch.
"This means concentrating our spend on technology, on digital, on simplification, as we hone our focus on service," said Hartzer.
"By investing in digital, we can use technology to redesign the customer experience, making things simpler, easier and better for our customers and our people."
The bank will aim to reduce its costs/efficiency ratio to below 40% and realising a 15% return on investment as it targets one million new customers by the end of 2017.
Key to this strategy be the creation of a Customer Service Hub, combining multiple systems and providing the bank with an overarching view of the customer and their financial needs.
Hatrzer noted that in addition to the investment in new technology, Westpac will also convert half of its branches to 24-hour 'lobbies' featuring smart ATMs and other self-service machines, which will make up 55% of the network by 2018.
“We expect that over the next three years about 550 of our branches will have been converted to the new format,” he said.
"Banking is undergoing a transformational change. The measures we have outlined today will deliver a step change in the service we provide to customers, while at the same time improving our efficiency and productivity."
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