Home loans on Defence Bank radar

Reduced effort in getting a personal loan using a fast, digital and paperless service has delivered a 25 per cent increase in loan fundings in its first three months post-launch, Australia’s Defence Bank reported on Wednesday (14 September).

The bank — which rolled out a strategic partnership with Cloudcase Software Solutions — offers a personal-lending ‘loan application to approval’ process that’s paperless… and in minutes,” it stated. 

Following its initial digital personal loan success, there will be further roll-out across home loans, credit cards and overdrafts to follow, it confirmed recently.

Commenting on the next stage of its “…people led, technology enabled” strategy, Defence Bank chief executive David Marshall said the adoption of the Cloudcase digital solution is an exciting collaboration, which will soon be extended to home loans, credit cards and overdrafts, following positive feedback from both members and the Defence Bank team.

Defence Bank is one of Australia’s larger member-owned banks serving the Australian Defence Force and the broader community, including staff in Commonwealth department agencies. It has operated for more than 45 years and has more than 75,000 members around Australia, with excess of $3 billion in assets, it confirmed. 

Entire loan origination in focus

“Our pilot on personal loans revealed a completely paperless digital solution providing approvals within 30 seconds and funding within 20 minutes where members had all necessary documentation,” Mr Marshall said.

“This is another great example of Defence Bank investing in its digital capability to make it easier for members and for our staff to serve our members better.  

“We are delighted with the success of the program, which informs our members via text and email notifications from application to approval and funding. 

“We will now extend it across our entire loan origination, with mortgages and credit cards set to roll out in the following months.”

Unwavering commitment to serve its members

Mr Marshall added: “The collaboration with Cloudcase puts Defence Bank on a very strong footing.

“It has delivered a better member experience by reduced member effort through frictionless banking and increased personal lending fundings by 25 per cent over the last three months.   

“What sets us apart is our unwavering commitment to serve our members and reduce the effort required to bank with us.

“Our strategies are all about people leading the way, backed by technology that enables a better member experience. 

“Defence Bank is committed to continuous improvements that reduce member effort and allows our team to deliver even better member care and service.” 

Yet this is not the first time Defence Bank has been “at the forefront” of digital investment and adoption, it highlighted.

“We were early adopters of Apple Pay and Google Pay, the New Payments Platform and developed an award-winning and highly rated banking app that rates 4.8 in the Apple and Google Play stores,” Mr Marshall explained.

“We will continue on this pathway with further investment, training and deployment of technology that meets evolving member need. 

“Investments and relationships like these should go some way to dispel the myth about bigger banks always being better digitally.

“Our new digital loan application allows us to offer a comparable and, in many ways, more compelling service.”

[Related: https://www.mortgagebusiness.com.au/lender/15416-former-mortgages-exec-joins-defence-bank]