P&N Bank have announced a partnership agreement with Decimal in a bid to strengthen their financial advice capabilities.
P&N Bank have announced a partnership agreement with Decimal in a bid to strengthen their financial advice capabilities by exploring “different delivery methods” and enhance their penetration in customer markets.
Currently, the Western Australian-based bank serves more than 100,000 members with $3 billion in assets, and operates under a customer-owned mutual banking model.
P&N Bank’s General Manager of Retail Banking and Distribution, Sean Fitzgerald, said the move was in line with P&N Bank’s plans to expand to more consumer market segments by providing a competitive funds management offering for new and existing customers.
“One of the strategic priorities for P&N Bank is partnering for growth and the partnership agreement with Decimal Software Ltd enables us to [collaborate] with a software company that has existing partnerships with QSuper and Mercers,” he said.
“Australia has an ageing population with funds under management growing rapidly and as a bank we are very interested in looking at ways we can [provide] holistic advice to more segments in the market.”
Andrew Hadley, CEO of P&N Bank, said the partnership agreement builds on the bank’s strong reputation for customer satisfaction.
“The partnership with Decimal is another example of our commitment to continue to meet the evolving financial needs of our member base while delivering innovative digital capability and high engagement,” Hadley said.
Carolyn Colley, CEO of Decimal, said that by configuring the Decimal cloud-based platform, enterprises like P&N Bank can deliver a unique customer proposition that is seamlessly integrated into their digital experience, core banking and wealth administration systems.
“The Decimal platform [allows] enterprises such as P&N Bank to completely rethink their advice business models from the perspective of the unserved customer and their advice needs,” she said.
“Mutuals such as P&N Bank are well positioned to service these needs in terms of engagement and solutions [to help] retain customers over their full lifecycle.”
What customers are looking for in an advice process, according to Decimal.
The challenge of compliance
In the spate of recent developments surrounding misconduct in financial planning – with IOOF the latest in a list of Australian institutions charged with unconscionable conduct – banks and financial services organisations face the challenge of providing financial advice seamlessly and accurately to customers looking for a frictionless experience.
Colley maintains that an omni-channel cloud-based approach is key to an enterprise complying with regulatory frameworks as well as meeting the demands of a burgeoning millenial customer base.
“Integral to any new advice offer is an omni-channel solution. In the design of the Decimal platform, the challenges of traditional manual and labour intensive overheads as well as current compliance functions such as inconsistencies, document effectiveness, tracking and storage have all been addressed,” Colley said.
“The removal of these costly barriers, in conjunction with triaged human advice support when required, enable a seamless response to customer questions and concerns, as well as a frictionless experience.”
