Bringing digital banking into the branch

Speaking to BlueNotes on video, Ohlsson said modern branches will offer technology to make banking quicker, easier and more efficient for customers – but will still maintain the critical “human touch” aspect.

"It used to more than an hour to do a personal loan application. Now you can do that in less than 10 minutes."
Fred Ohlsson, ANZ Group Executive Australia

“It used to take our bankers more than an hour to do a personal loan application,” he said. “Now… you can do that in less than 10 minutes.”

ANZ’s flagship new branch in Sydney’s traditional home of banking and new home of technology, Martin Place, offers a full range of digital banking options, including wi-fi, next generation smart ATMs, Apple Pay features, goMoney and a new “Banker Desktop”, eliminating the need for paper and providing faster response times to queries.

It is home to 21 digital screens providing product information and demonstrations, as well as an interactive vertical garden spanning three levels which responds to changes in the outside environment.

Ohlsson said despite all the bells and whistles, humans were still at the important centre of any digital banking branch and would be well into the future.

“We know our customers love digital, they love technology,” he said.  “But we also know when customers come into our branches, they often need … to interact with the bank beyond technology. We need to make sure we offer both in our branches.

{CF_IMAGE}

ANZ's newest branch in Martin Place.

Ohlsson said the location of the site reflected ANZ’s growing commitment to New South Wales, where the bank has opened four new branches and two new business centres in the past year.

“For quite a while now we haven’t done as much as we could in NSW,” he said. “We have for the last year or two invest more [into the state].”

“It’s our biggest state and fastest growing state. We need to have a bigger presence there.”

Watch the video above to find out more.

Andrew Cornell is managing editor at BlueNotes