A new home loan process – plus more

At ANZ we unveiled our new retail digital banking platform – ANZ Plus – almost nine months ago. The first ANZ Plus release included modern, easy to use transaction and savings products and was built on modern technology with enhanced security and new features - many of which are not available at banks with older technology platforms.

“The application process will be transparent, fast, completely digital and will feature rapid credit assessments, with loan approvals specific to individual properties. So, customers can buy with confidence.”

It is a new approach of partnering with the world’s best software companies to build a platform that will serve our customers well into the future. The platform doesn’t lock ANZ into one system – but one we can flex and change as the environment changes, quickly, safely and at low cost.

Building this new retail banking platform involved:

• More than 20 new technology platforms, most of them cloud enabled. About half being custom-built and the other half from partners
• Over 1500 new, re-usable business service APIs such as customer identification and customer access management
• A 1,200 strong team of some of this country’s best design, data and engineering talent.

Since then, more than 100,000 customers have joined ANZ Plus, making it the fastest new digital bank in Australia to reach this milestone. We have also added hundreds of new features and improvements including the ability to add a digital card immediately after joining, biometric login and more.

We’ve also introduced advanced security features providing an extra layer of fraud protection for customers, including a dynamic CVV and a new security alert feature.

The next step for ANZ Plus is home lending, which will allow customers to easily apply and manage their loan, with approval in minutes and support from an ANZ Plus coach whenever they need it.

The beauty of the new platform is we’re reusing about 70 per cent of the same underlying technology we built for our savings and transaction accounts. Last week we commenced a beta pilot with a small number of staff testing the process and experience.

ANZ Plus home lending will allow customers to explore, apply and settle their loan with our mobile-first, end-to-end lending experience using the best of modern technology.

Statement of position

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Each home loan customer can create a unique, reusable, digital financial position, using only their mobile phone. This statement of position integrates all their financial data in one place, combining transaction histories from ANZ accounts, as well as any accounts with other banks to create a live statement of position.

This will be a dynamic, reusable, always up-to-date and ready to use for a home loan at any time. Customers can view an accurate spending summary that automatically categorises transactions and provides a breakdown spending, earnings etc – most of it done automatically.

This will allow customers to understand what they can afford without uploading a single document and it allows for greater automation. No more guesswork on what your annual spend is for utilities, gifts and eating out.

The ANZ Plus App uses real-time property value estimations, so customers will also be able to find a property and secure it sooner with an approval decision in minutes. 

The application process will be transparent, fast, completely digital and will feature rapid credit assessments, with loan approvals specific to individual properties. So, home buyers can purchase with confidence.

Customers can view their loan progress securely via the ANZ Plus app or website at any time, staying across the process from beginning to end. That data will also be available to ANZ Plus Coaches allowing them to answer questions from customers about how their loan application is progressing.

Self-service management

ANZ Plus home loans will maximise the financial wellbeing features of the ANZ Plus app, which have been enhanced to support loan management and offset functionality.

Smart tools and notifications will prompt customers to adjust their loan as their situation changes and take actions to help them own their home sooner. Customers can also easily manage loan features like offsets, redraw, repayments and statements.

The ANZ Plus home loan has recently entered the beta test phase and we have just approved our very first ANZ Plus Home Lending application. The beta phase allows ANZ to test, monitor and fine tune the new proposition before it’s  available to customers and demonstrates that we can regularly update it while it’s in use.

 I’m excited to see how the beta test phase goes before we launch our minimum viable product for all customers in 2023.

This is an edited version of a presentation by Peter Dalton, Managing Director of Design & Development at ANZx.