Westpac NZ Working To Improve Banking For The Disabled Community

Westpac NZ says greater action is needed to make it easier for disabled New Zealanders to access banking services.

A new report commissioned by Westpac and carried out by research agency ThinkPlace found nearly one in four New Zealanders have a disability and can encounter a range of barriers accessing bank accounts and banking services, which can have a big impact on their lives.

The Westpac NZ Disability and Inclusion in Banking Report looks at the experience of people who identify as having difficulty with vision, hearing, physically functioning, managing social interactions and understanding or communicating. It makes recommendations for improving accessibility.

Westpac NZ Chief Executive Catherine McGrath says having a bank account and being able to easily access banking services is critical to functioning in society and difficulty accessing these services can lead to a range of negative outcomes.

“Having difficulty accessing banking services can have a profound impact on someone’s life. At the upper end of the scale, not being able to access a bank account can make it hard to pay for a place to live, keep a job and pay bills,” Ms McGrath says.

“Even if you have an account, when you experience barriers to using banking services it can add challenges to people who already experience a large range of difficulties in day-to-day life. This can leave them open to exploitation and feeling disconnected from their community – having a big impact on their welfare.”

Challenges include identification, which can prevent people from getting an account at all; limited choice; the accessibility of physical and online banking channels; the capability and understanding of bank staff and complex legal requirements around caregiver roles.

“Around 1.1 million New Zealanders identify as having a disability and recent figures show that growing by around 20% a decade due to the explosion in our ageing population,” Ms McGrath says.

“So it’s vital banking and a range of other industries improve accessibility to meet the needs of this growing group.

“We have been working for some time on making our services more accessible, but this research brings home the wide range of hurdles that still exist and the need for more urgency, with interviewees saying the banking system needs to do a better job.

“We’ve taken those insights on board and will be sharing them with other banks and partners in government.”

Inclusive design in digital channels was something identified by the report as particularly important for neurodivergent people, who are likely to benefit from simple web pages, clear visual cues and interactive features such as clickable buttons.

“We’ve recently updated our Westpac One banking app to make it easier and more intuitive to navigate,” Ms McGrath says. “People with accessibility needs were among those who tested the updates and we’ll continue to make sure these groups are consulted before we launch new products and services.”

Legal requirements were identified as a significant hurdle for people with disabilities, including the burden of identity and proof of address requirements.

“We have a legal obligation to require our customers to provide robust proof of identity, to prevent money laundering and other crimes, but we also believe there is a need for greater flexibility, particularly around regulated requirements like proof of address,” Ms McGrath says.

“We already have exemption identification processes to help customers experiencing vulnerability, including those with disabilities, but we’re keen to work with the industry and government to further improve access.”

The Government has been working on reforming New Zealand’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism rules, including the banking Customer Due Diligence requirements. Further updates are expected this year.

Ms McGrath says those changes should be accelerated, and alongside the work individual banks need to do, more industry and government collaboration is needed to effect greater change.

The experience of making payments is another area cited by the report as presenting challenges. Ms McGrath says Westpac is actively working to improve payment accessibility.

“We’ve just launched new Mastercard cards with identification notches, braille and large-print numbers to make things easier for those with vision impairments.

“We’ve also been working with our EFTPOS terminal providers Verifone to get tactile edges built into our Westpac-branded touchscreen payment terminals. All new terminals will now have these tactile edges, helping blind or visually impaired people to navigate where the numbers are to enter their PIN.”

In addition to the items above, Westpac NZ has recently, or is in the process of, introducing a number of other new initiatives to make its services more accessible:

New initiatives

· Partnered with the Hidden Sunflower Programme and trained all Westpac customer-facing teams to recognise that those wearing the sunflower have a hidden disability and might need extra assistance.

· Delivered financial education workshops to people with disabilities (including Deaf Aotearoa and Spectrum Care) in collaboration with advocacy groups. This is an ongoing programme of work.

· Introduced a new process for those people who are physically unable to provide signatures.

· Launched a new cards hub in the Westpac One app with screen reading and large text options, plus icons to reduce cognitive load. The hub was tested by customers with accessibility needs.

· Made new training modules available to all employees – Inclusive Design for Web & Mobile Accessibility and Accessible Communications & Inclusive Design.

· All new digital features are being built to be WCAG 2.2 compliant (latest Web standard).

· Introduced a customer vulnerability toolkit to help Westpac teams consider these people’s needs in service provision.

“Ultimately, better accessibility is a win for everyone. All of us can benefit from experiences and processes that are designed to be as user-friendly and simple as possible,” Ms McGrath says.

“Over the past few years, we’ve been working to improve inclusion and accessibility in banking and we’re committed to continuing that journey.”

Existing Westpac accessibility initiatives

· Customers can request to have an Extra Care indicator “flag” added to their profile, so Westpac staff are aware the person requires additional support.

· Westpac has a dedicated Extra Care team who provide support for customers experiencing vulnerability or who have accessibility needs.

· Continued uplift/training of Westpac teams to identify customers who need Extra Care.

· Calls from customers over the age of 65 are prioritised.

· Westpac Get Paid merchant terminals have audio features for visually impaired customers – customers can plug in their own wired headphones.

· Branches are designed to be dementia-friendly in terms of layout, fixtures and fittings and quiet areas; frontline staff are trained to assist people living with dementia, and their families.

· Partnering with iSign to offer free face-to-face appointments with NZ Sign Language interpreters, as well as supporting the use of the NZ Relay Service over the phone.

· Providing Easy English guides to help customers with diverse communication needs understand important banking information.

· Westpac ATMs are all equipped with audio assistance, and can be used with wired headphones, while the PIN pads have tactile markers. They also have animations for non-literate or non-English speaking customers.

· The Westpac One app lets customers login using fingerprint or facial recognition (if supported by their device). This can help customers with mobility challenges, as well as those who may forget their password or PIN numbers.

· Westpac became the first NZ bank to be accredited with the Accessibility Tick in 2019 and continues to be regularly assessed. Westpac is also a member of the NZ Disability Employers’ Network.

NOTE: ACCESSIBILITY KEY FACTS AND Q+A

Report findings

· Disabled New Zealanders currently encounter a range of barriers in accessing banking services.

· Around 1.1 million New Zealanders – nearly one in four people - currently identify as having a disability.

· As our population ages, that number is likely to rise – recent figures show New Zealanders identifying as disabled increased by about 20% over 10 years.

· Total card payments, across online and in-store purchases, in NZ each year are estimated to be at least $143 billion annually. While we don’t have figures on what percentage of that amount is payments made by disabled people, it’s clear that it’s likely to be in the tens of billions.

· Globally, disabled households are currently estimated to have more than $10.71 trillion in annual disposable income.

· People with vision or hearing impairments, people who are neurodiverse, people who have difficulty understanding and/or communicating information and people who have difficulty physically functioning all have varied needs that are not currently always being met by New Zealand’s banking services.

· Disabled people need to be involved in the design of new products and services, as well as the decision-making behind what’s prioritised, to ensure their needs are accurately represented.

· Collaboration and improvements from government, regulators and the banking industry could lead to significantly improved banking accessibility for disabled people.

What difficulties do disabled people currently encounter in banking services? 

· The report shows disabled people currently experience challenges with things including:

· Providing the necessary identification to open a bank account.

· Accessing and navigating both physical and online banking channels.

· Limited choice.

· Receiving the necessary level of support from bank staff.

Why does access to banking services matter? 

· Having a bank account means you can participate in the economy. Without a bank account, it’s difficult to do things like pay for somewhere to live, pay bills or receive work or benefit payments.

· Access to other banking services, including being able to easily make or receive payments, is also critical for independence.

What are the impacts of the banking industry not being accessible to disabled people?

· Disabled people could be excluded from the banking system entirely, and not able to participate in our economy.

· Disabled people could be forced to rely on others, limiting their autonomy. Conversely, some policies could also mean disabled people aren’t able to involve trusted support people in their banking, which could inhibit their independence.

· Disabled people could be more vulnerable to exploitation by others.

What does ‘disabled’ mean in this context? 

· The report looked at the experience of people who identify as having difficulty with vision, hearing, physically functioning, managing social interactions and understanding or communicating.

Does ‘disabled’ include people who are neurodiverse? 

· Interviews with neurodivergent people (including people who identify as autistic and people who have ADHD) formed part of the research for the report.

· Inclusive design in digital channels was something identified as particularly important for neurodivergent people, who are likely to benefit from simple web pages, clear visual cues and interactive features such as clickable buttons.

Are these issues linked with our ageing population? 

· By 2050, it’s predicted that there will be 1.5 million people aged 65 or older living in New Zealand. The likelihood of living with one or more long-term health conditions increases with age and rates of disability have increased as our population has aged.

So is this mainly a concern for older people? 

· No – many young New Zealanders also identify as disabled.

Why is Westpac focused on the experience of disabled people? 

· The size of this group is large and it is only going to grow larger, so meeting the needs of these customers is important for our business, banking more generally and other industries.

· More broadly, we want to provide equitable access to banking services. Improving inclusion in banking will lead to more people participating more fully in our economy, ultimately delivering better outcomes for all New Zealanders.

What is Westpac doing to address the issues identified? 

· In 2015 Westpac became New Zealand’s first dementia friendly bank and in 2019 we became the first bank to be accredited with the Accessibility Tick. We are a member of the NZ Disability Employers’ Network and have been working hard on improving access and inclusion. But we acknowledge there’s more we can do.

· We’re keen to work with the government, regulators and the banking industry to improve experiences for disabled people as well as other New Zealanders experiencing vulnerability. That includes things such as reviewing address and identification requirements, and creating required minimum standards of accessibility in different banking services.

· We are now involving people with accessibility challenges in the testing of new products and services.

· We recently became a Hidden Sunflower Programme partner and trained all our frontline banking staff to identify that those wearing the sunflower may need extra support.

· We are adding tactile edges to our Westpac Get Paid payment terminals to help blind or visually impaired people to identify numbers so they can enter their PIN.

· We have a wide range of other initiatives, policies and procedures in place to better support the needs of those who are identified as disabled. We will continue to look at what more we can do in this space, with our approach guided by the report’s findings and recommendations.

Are these issues specific to the banking industry? 

· No. While many of the recommendations provided are banking-specific, the themes and principles that underpin them may be more broadly relevant.

· Other industries, especially those providing essential services, may benefit from considering how things such as supporting self-determination, making mainstream services more accessible, providing equitable choice, and building capability of employees to support disabled people, could be applied to make our society more inclusive for all.

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