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Westpac app recognised best again, as record numbers engage with budgeting tools
12 September 2024
The number of customers using personal finance tools in Westpac’s mobile banking app has increased by 36% since the start of the year, with around 620,000 logging in each month to access features to help monitor cash flow, categorise spending and manage bills.
In recognition of the app’s features helping customers to manage their finances and save, Forrester has named the Westpac app Australia’s overall leader in its mobile banking app evaluation for the second year in a row in The Forrester Digital Experience Review™: Australian Mobile Banking Apps, Q3 2024.
Forrester’s review acknowledged Westpac’s use of customer behaviour to offer actionable insights to help customers manage their money, such as notifying customers when they may have overspent on their set budget and enabling them to review it.
“With the higher cost of living impacting many Australians, our customers are increasingly turning to their mobile app as a ‘bank in their pocket’. We now have 5.92 million digitally active customers – up 5% from the year prior[1],” Westpac Chief Executive, Consumer, Jason Yetton said.
“We’ve seen record growth in use of our budgeting tools, and customers are getting savvier with their spending – tapping into new features to get cashback on their shopping or using credit card points to pay for purchases.
“We’ve also introduced a number of Australian banking firsts into our app, so our customers can be confident they’re using the best banking app, enhanced by robust safety and security protections such as Westpac Verify and Westpac SaferPay,” Yetton said.
New figures from Westpac reveal that customers are also seeking better ways to save through shopping and rewards in the app. Customers have received more than $28 million in cashback through ShopBack and redeemed more than 800 million in Westpac Altitude Rewards points for purchases like groceries, travel and shopping through the Pay with Points feature in the app.
More than 150,000 customers have acted on push alerts through the app to earn bonus interest on their savings – totalling more than $42 million in interest.
New scam-fighting capabilities launched in-app this year contributed to the bank saving customers around $170 million, with customer scam losses down 30 per cent year on year.
“Behind the best mobile app experience is a significant investment in boosting our in-house engineering talent and capabilities, as well as a relentless focus on safety and security,” Yetton said.
“Through our technology simplification program, we’ll also be bringing the best of the Westpac app to our consumer brands - St.George, BankSA and Bank of Melbourne. This means more of our customers will be able to access our leading app over the coming years, regardless of which brand they bank with,” Yetton said.
Tools to help customers manage their money in the Westpac app include:
- Savings Finder: This Westpac app tool automatically calculates a customer’s annual spending on subscriptions and regular bills allowing customers to review their regular expenses to identify potential savings.
- Net worth: Providing customers with a whole of wealth view by allowing them to add assets and liabilities.
- Bills Calendar: A planning tool to manage bills and costs in one place. Over 50,000 customers used the feature in July.
- ShopBack: Allows more than five million credit and debit card customers to access exclusive offers via a dedicated Westpac page in the ShopBack app and website.
- Pay with Points: An Australian first, customers can use Altitude Rewards Points on everyday items anywhere Mastercard is accepted.
- Savings Push Notifications: Alert customers about how they can earn bonus interest on their savings.
- Money Bootcamp: Available from 24 September, this program provides simple and actionable guides on how customers can set up, customise, and utilise in-app money management tools to get the most out of their savings and app.
Enhancements to help protect customers from scams and fraud include:
- Westpac SaferPay: An Australian-first innovation, Westpac SaferPay alerts customers to potential scams through a series of questions served to a customer making a new payment that is detected to have high scam risk. The functionality has challenged 200,000 transfers, resulting in customers abandoning $194 million in payments, which could have potentially gone to scammers.
- Westpac Verify: An up-front risk indicator to alert customers when there is a potential account name mismatch when they’re adding a new payee using a BSB and account number.
- Westpac SafeCall: Customers receive an alert via their Westpac app when the bank calls them, showing Optus verification and the reason for the call. An Australian first, the capability will be rolled out to customers over the coming months.
- Dynamic CVC: A temporary Card Verification Code that changes every 24 hours for security purposes.
For more information head to the Westpac website.
About the report
Westpac received the highest score in Digital experience review among Multi-Channel banks in Forrester’s proprietary 2024 Forrester Digital Experience Review of Australian Mobile Banking Apps conducted between June and July 2024. Forrester reviewed four banks’ mobile apps across 18 customer scenarios and combined this with a mobile banking app performance score from Forrester’s proprietary Customer Index Survey in Australia. These findings were then combined with findings from unmoderated usability testing with 40 customers of the included brands. Forrester Research does not endorse any company included in any Digital Experience Review and does not advise any person to select the products or services of any particular company based on the ratings included in such reports.
[1] 5% increase in March 2024 as compared to March 2023.
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