ASB takes home Canstar innovation award

Every year, Canstar assesses the new and innovative financial products and services launched on the New Zealand market and showcase those businesses in the financial sector that are leading the way. In 2018, ASB received a Canstar Innovation Excellence Award for its home loans information hub, Home Central.

Canstar NZ caught up with Vince Clark, ASB head of product portfolio management, about ASB’s innovative tool for home loan customers.

How has online banking changed customers’ expectations?

Digital banking has given customers increased transparency through the on-demand access to their financial information.

Online products and services provide greater flexibility for customers, resulting in increased customer interactions with the bank.

 Can you describe how some of the tools in Home Central help customers with their decisions around home loans?

ASB Home Central is an innovative online tool that gives customers control to make their home loan work for them – anytime, anywhere.
This unique tool provides customers with a visual display of how their home loan is tracking. It illustrates the impact of how a small change today, such as increasing mortgage repayments, could make a big difference to a customer’s loan over time.
ASB Home Central gives customers the freedom to proactively explore the impacts of different options without committing upfront.

 Where does ASB think digital banking is heading – what trends do you expect to see in this space over the next five to ten years?

There will be increased use of technologies, such as advanced analytics, which will be designed to provide highly personalised digital banking experiences, sensitive to the individual needs of each customer, allowing staff to focus on more complex customer requests.

Canstar’s verdict: Why ASB won a 2018 Canstar Innovation Excellence Award

ASB’s Home Central is an online platform that is only available to customers when they log into their FastNet Classic account.

“This enables the information contained within a range of tools to be personalised to the individual consumer’s situation,” Canstar NZ general manager Jose George says.

ASB’s Home Central allows customers to track their debt position against the value of their assets.

“The graphical interface allows customers to visualise how their home loan is tracking, and illustrates how changes made to the loan, such as increased repayments, can have a significant impact on cost and duration of their loan,” Mr George says.

Customers can experiment with multiple scenarios as often as they like. Once they are happy to proceed, the customer can submit the changes, which become effective immediately, without them having to contact the bank.

“Home Central also provides customers with an up-to-date estimate of property value, as well as the latest council valuation, at no additional cost,” Mr George says.

Read Canstar's full innovation award page