NABs Head of Direct Channels talks to FST

From FST Media:

Interview with Tim Cullen, Head of Direct Channels, National Australia Bank - Tim talks through recent innovations at NAB like the NAB Life website, live chat, sms banking, 2.0 and other topics.

Read the interview here.

NAB moves customer service to chat-bot

From ZDNet:

"National Australia Bank in June will start trialling technology where chat-bots or what NAB calls "virtual agents" handle customer requests online — a task handled by call centre agents today.

NAB will soon start trialling "virtual chat", where an automated online assistant will attempt to answer commonly asked questions for customers via a Web browser, according to the bank's head of direct channels, Direct Sales and Service, Tim Cullen.

The new system's online assistant will provide customers with links to other Web pages, and explanatory images, as well as helping customers through various application forms, such as those for home loans.

"If [customers] are at a particular point in an application, our virtual agent will be able to give specific guidance to them on how to proceed," Cullen told ITRadio.com.au's Smart Call podcast."

...

"Dr Catriona Wallace, director of Callcentres.net, who last year released a study showing that Australians would prefer speaking with robots than with offshore call centre staff, said technology like this will likely result in job cuts. However, she added that "there's a whole need to automate transactional work to make it less mundane for call centre workers and it will raise what call centre agents need to do other than simple credit card enquiries."

"Agents typically take 78 calls per day and if some of that can be automated, it's a much better role for the agent," she said.

As for NAB's customers, Dr Wallace said: "I think they will like it because most customers that will use it immediately will already be customers who have some orientation around Web chat technology," she said."

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New MLC, St Geoge, AMP websites go live

The new MLC website is looking fresh - have a look and a browse. Calculators above are nice.

Also have a look at the new St George website, as well as AMPs new site. All happening!

Choice magazine talks about their views on recent merger activity

From The Age:

"It's clear that competition in the banking sector is not working as well as it should. In fact, competition is getting worse, not better.

Indeed, what's not clear is how a merger between one of the Big Four and the fifth biggest bank in Australia (with a particularly strong position in NSW and South Australia) will increase competition. Even if the cost of funds decreases as promised, there is no guarantee that any benefit will be passed on to customers. This is precisely why competition needs to have priority over other considerations."

...

"How many bank customers who were thrown into a rage because of poor service or high fees have had to back down on their threats to leave the miscreant bank because it is just all too hard? While 25% to 40% of bank customers express dissatisfaction with their current institution, only 3% actually switch accounts.

As things stand, customers are not able to drive competition by easily choosing a better deal, and that means incentives to offer better products are undermined. A competitive market will encourage banks to innovate — to offer attractive differences in price or service to draw new customers — but this can't work where it's too difficult for consumers to switch."

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NAB gets busy with SMS banking and Online Statements now live

NAB has launched its SMS banking service, where regsitered users can check account balances, request mini statements, and transfer funds between their accounts. This will add the the convenience SMS already brings to our lives... and looking forward to browser based banking on the mobile!

I've also noticed the arrival of online statements in internet banking - all you nab customers log in, click 'view statements' and have a look! Lots of activity at NAB (not quite as much as Westpac and StG obviously!). Read about all the new nab internet and mobile features here.

NAB releases Customer Promises

Following pioneering work from ANZ, NAB has released a set of Customer Promises, based around 3 key themes:

- Providing smarter banking products and services
- Making it easier to do business with us, and
- Giving support and assistance to help our communities grow.

"The Customer Promise clearly outlines the goals we're setting ourselves in three areas. This gives our customers a clear picture of what we're aiming to achieve on their behalf, as well as providing us with a mechanism to gauge our performance against those aspirations", Australia chief Andrew Thorburn said.

Things that relate to direct and self-service banking include an uptime promise of 99% for Internet and phone banking, answering emails with one business day, update every ATM by 2009, and answering calls 90% time within 60 seconds. It will be interesting to see if NAB can consistently deliver on these, but we should also assume customers have set these expectations for the bank to meet.

One I also like is "use clear, everyday language to explain our products, services and fees" - this has been an issue for me for a while, and the sooner we can break down the barriers of the jargon and terms and conditions we use in our daily lives at the bank the better our customers will be - I just hope banks have asked customers how they describe products and services (despite the swearing!).

Banks fight for online supremacy

Good article from Fin Review on the banks improving their online presence, with CBA, ANZ, and NAB all focusing on better online customer experience.

New NAB Business website live

NAB have launched their refreshed Business website, with a new interaction experience from the home page - choose your industry, product needs or business life stage. Nice use of the promo panels as well.

Be careful with your brand

Is this a NAB parody or praise?



Plus the new ANZ ad is interesting - channel marketing!!

NAB to launch SMS Banking

NAB has released details to the market on its new SMS Banking product, to come to market in April 2008. Visit this page (linked from nab.com.au) to pre-register for the new service and check out the demo.

The SMS banking service will allow personal banking customers to check account balances, request mini account statements, make funds transfers between linked accounts, and will be available on NABs new range of Everyday Banking accounts, NAB credit cards and selected savings and investment accounts.

Will CommBank and Westpac now join ANZ and NAB in this space?

NAB wants a bigger share

From The Australian:

NAB retail chief Andrew Thorburn says the nation's second-biggest lender has a chance to win back market share from non-bank lenders after resisting the temptation to lift interest rates amid the global credit turmoil.

Mr Thorburn said the next biggest opportunity for the banking sector would be the "wealth factor", pointing out that Australia had the fourth-biggest superannuation market in the world.

He said wealth would be handed over between generations over the next 10-20 years.

Mr Thorburn predicted that mobile phone banking would be a dominant channel in the future.

NAB and Telstra are due to start a trial on "contactless banking" next year.

Mr Thorburn said NAB customers who had a Telstra mobile phone would be able to go into a retail shop, and swipe their phone over the card reader to pay for goods and services.

"I think mobile banking is going to be an interesting one ... seeing how it can be leveraged. It's got huge potential but I don't think we quite understand what it could do ... we are at the edge of that turf." Australia could be one of the leaders in taking mobile phones into banking, he said.

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Net Promoter Scores 2006 - guess the one bank in the black

This from MBS, the Net Promoter Scores for Australia 2006 across a variety of industries - auto, banks, health insurance, tourism, mobiles, computers, etc. Completed by Mark Ritson, a friend of TheBankChannel. Excellent and revealing reading! Read his media release here.

Bendigo, like their customer satisfaction, dominates with the only positive net promoter score at +7 in the banking industry. HSBC was next, which was interesting, at -8. ANZ -24, St G -30, Westpac -39, NAB -42, CommBank -54 .... heck.

NZ Banks Continue To Make Gains In Satisfaction, Bendigo wins in Aus again

Click on the image to see a bigger version.

New Zealand Bank Performance

Roy Morgan reports NZ banks are continuing to improve as a group, with the leader minor bank TSB with a staggering 93.2% of customers satisfied with their service.

Roy Morgan New Zealand found that in the 12 months to July 2007, satisfaction reported by customers of the five major banks improved 3.8 percentage points to 75.6%.

The biggest improver was Westpac, with those who have any relationship with Westpac increasing their satisfaction level by 6.1 percentage points to 71.1%. While this represents a steady and significant improvement over the past 12 months, Westpac still trails its competitors.

Another interesting point is the entrance of government/post office owned Kiwi Bank that started and remained at number 2, but looks to be coming back to the advancing pack.

Australian Bank Performance

Meanwhile Bendigo has again won the latest customer satisfaction round here in Oz. The Roy Morgan Research Consumer Banking Customer Satisfaction Report (August 2007) ranked Bendigo Bank as the highest of any Australian bank in terms of customer satisfaction. Bendigo Bank received a 90.6 percent customer satisfaction rating.

ANZ received a 75.6 percent rating; Commonwealth Bank a 68.1 percent rating; NAB a 68.9 percent rating and Westpac a 72 percent rating. St George and Suncorp both received a 79.3 percent rating. Adelaide Bank received a rating of 82.6 percent higher than Bank of Queensland and BankWest which received ratings of 82.1 percent and 72.4 percent respectively.

St George the customers favourite business bank

St George has topped an East & Partners survey across business banking customers. Business customers have rated their banks, on average, lower in August 2007 than in any previous month in East & Partner's monthly report, the Business Banking Sentiment Index.

The Business Banking Sentiment Score fell from 41.7 in July 2007 to 41.4 in August 2007. Despite two consecutive increases in sentiment over the past few months, the long term downward spiral in sentiment has continued.

The Sentiment Score is an aggregated rating metric comprising four different measures of customer sentiment – Empathy, Satisfaction Loyalty and Advocacy. NAB came a respectable 3rd and first amongst the big four at 49.

NAB to conduct m-payments pilot

NAB is teaming with Visa and wireless operator Telstra to launch the country's first mobile payments trial which will allow select cardholders in Melbourne to pay for purchases using their hand sets.

The public trial, which begins in Melbourne in early 2008, will supply participants with a Telstra mobile phone embedded with near field communications (NFC) technology, with the SIM card loaded with Visa's contactless payWave application.

Users will able to make a contactless payment by waving the handset over a reader at participating merchants.

Commenting on the initative Andrew Thorburn, NAB executive general manager, retail banking, says: "In the not too distant future we envisage NAB customers being able to walk into a shop, give their mobile a quick wave over a reader and simply walk out with their purchases."

"As one of Australia's largest suppliers of terminals for merchants we are also excited about the benefits of Visa payWave contactless transactions for our business customers," says Thorburn. "This could not only mean less cash handling, but also faster service times and less queuing at the check-out."

Telstra group managing director, enterprise and government, David Thodey, says in future the technology could be used to hold loyalty, membership cards, marketing offers, public transport tickets and building access security cards.

"Instead of having a wallet or purse full of plastic cards, you could soon have them all supported on a single Telstra mobile phone," says Thodey.

NAB claims the initiative will mark the first public test of mobile payment technology in Australia. The Visa system is already undergoing trials with a number of financial institutions and telecomms firms in the US and Asia.

NAB on track to success

Nab is successfully on track in three key areas - financial performance, customer service and employee satisfaction - according to its CEO, Ahmed Fahour. The bank has a 3 year plan to rebuild the brand back to its high standing after recent turbulence. Read more here.

Michelle Tredenick, CIO from NAB, takes the hot seat

FST Media have interviewed the CIO of NAB. She talks about key challenges, off shoring, NABs IT agenda for the next 3 years, Basel and Sarbanes-Oxley, trends and leadership. Some samples:

"The main issues when I arrived were the fact that technology had become very internally focused and lost its engagement with the business, and secondly that the financial investments were being poorly governed (technology and business)."

"Our credibility rests on our ability to deliver to the commitments we make and to work as a partner to the business in solving business issues. It's been rewarding to see us deliver on a huge investment agenda (publicly reported at $1.3 billion over 3 years) and have had an influenced in both shaping and executing that agenda together with the business."

"A key trend driving our thinking is customer expectations of their interactions with us as an organisation. New competitive shock and ‘change the game’ plays are also driving our thinking terms of technology advances enabling new business models. Without a doubt, the way consumers interact with technology and their expectations from what they know technology can do is changing and the wise business tries to stay at least even with what the customer wants!"

Couldnt have put it better myself - great work Michelle.

NAB to roll out VOIP trading desktops in Brisbane

NAB has contracted with IPC for the engineering and installation of voice-over-IP (VoIP) trading turrets at a new dealing room in Brisbane.

IPC says its technology will comprise both the back-end infrastructure and desktop environment at the bank's relocated treasury division in Brisbane.

The vendor will install its IP-based IQMX destops at the new facility. Although located in Brisbane, the desktops will run off a switch installed in Sydney, over the bank's own network.

IPC says the IP technology provides benefits in terms of system resiliency, reduced infrastructure, resource-sharing and trader mobility.

Mark Adams, head of corporate and institutional sales, NAB, says: "IP is a proven technology that refines everyday functions on the trading floor, allowing National Australia Bank to offer our clients enhanced trading services."

Internet Banking gets hit hard

From Finextra (1 & 2):

Three Australian banks - CommBank, Bank of Queensland (BoQ) and NAB have all recently been affected by 'system failures' over the past week or two.

CBA's software provider Oracle is reportedly working to fix a glitch that has caused "extensive problems" with the bank's CommSee teller system and online business banking application CommBiz last week.

Meanwhile BoQ has been working to fix technical problems with its Internet banking service this week that prevented some customers from accessing their accounts, also last week. The problem, which follows recent routine upgrades to the system, has left the bank's online services congested and unable to operate at full capacity at peak times.

NAB customers were locked out of Web banking accounts when the system broke down at around 9 am on Monday this week. The service wasn't restored until late afternoon.

NAB launces Kick To Kick

NAB has launched an excellent extension to their popular Gimme Dat campaign, called Kick To Kick, where users can submit their own clips kicking an AFL footy from left to right, and having the opportunity to make it into an aired commercial of the favourite clips. This enhances NABs increasing support of AFL - AusKick, NAB Rising Star, AFL Footy Tips and the NAB Cup.