Westpac initiates Android introduction

Westpac Bank (Westpac) has revealed this week (29 November) that its digital banking is expanding into new territory, introducing its latest app to the Android operating system (OS). 

According to a statement supplied by the major bank, over 800,000 customers with a mobile phone currently running Android 10+ will be upgraded to the latest banking app “over the coming weeks”.

This decision to expand this offering comes after a 20,000 customer-strong trial of the new app with Android OS as well a 15 per cent increase in digital banking since Westpac introduced its app to 1.7 million iPhone users in February. 

However, the move also follows in the wake of a Westpac-commissioned Lonergan Research that suggests the vast majority of Australians have embraced digital banking. 

After surveying 2,038 Australians aged 18 and above across Australia between 9 August and 17 August, the researchers found that 87 per cent of respondents agreed that it was easier to conduct everyday banking tasks through digital channels, while 75 per cent believed that digital banking had made them more conscious of their spending.

Westpac chief executive consumer and business banking Chris de Bruin said: “Mobile has become the channel of choice for customers, with more than 84 per cent of consumer and business digital banking taking place on a smartphone or tablet.

“We wanted to create an app where we put the customer in control and give them on-demand access to their finances, where and when they want.”

Mr de Bruin added that, since Westpac first introduced its digital banking app to iOS, the major bank has seen 700,000 daily users and more than 90,000 customers using its Smart Search feature each week, alongside a 178 per cent increase in the number of customers using digital cards. 

“Today’s announcement is the next step in our digital banking strategy which continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of our customers. We will continue to build digital solutions to make banking simpler, faster and even more secure,” Mr de Bruin concluded.

The announcement marks another step towards what is an increasing digitisation of the banking and lending sectors.

Earlier this month, Volt Bank revealed it had partnered with the fintech Frollo to build and release a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) app. 

It was also around this time that the non-major bank ING Australia’s would be integrating NextGen.Net’s commercial digital lodgement platform, partially as a means to “better support broker diversification and revenue growth”.

In September, Commonwealth Bank of Australia confirmed that its upcoming digital home loan product Unloan will launch first as a direct-to-consumer product.

[Related: Volt, Frollo partner for white-label banking app]