Carolyn Murphy of Hiver details the story behind creating a new digital-first banking proposition...
A desire to grow market penetration and attract a younger essential worker demographic has seen Teachers Mutual Bank Limited (TMBL) launch a dedicated digital-first banking brand, Hiver, this month.
Carolyn Murphy (chief digital bank officer) told CMO Australia that the group has always strived to be an early mover in terms of evolving technical capabilities for members.
“With the impacts and acceleration of digital in 2020, it provided us with an opportunity to implement a change in our business strategy without impacting our existing member base and ecosystem,” she said. “Hiver is about growing our market penetration further in regard to assets and deposits, while allowing us to significantly improve time to serve members and reduce cost of service by combining digital and simplicity. It’s about delivering a simple service proposition that works every time.”
Supporting Hiver are underlying technology improvements Murphy said allowed the business to remove some of the legacy and complexity behind traditional banking. The Hiver offering debuts with a digital onboarding capability, plus different transaction and saver propositions. It’s also debuting with a 1 per cent cashback offer on groceries and transport, a measure designed to give back essential workers as they conduct their banking transactions.
In addition, Hiver plans to have a digital card issuance available shortly, along with credit offerings including personal and car loan products.
Hiver now sits alongside Teachers Mutual Bank’s other industry focused brands: Firefighters Mutual Bank, Health Professional Bank, Teachers Mutual Bank and UniBank. Collectively, the 55-year-old mutual banking group has more than 210,000 members and $9 billion in assets.
However, unlike these other industry specific brands, Murphy said Hiver is designed to support all essential worker groups as a digital-first bank.
To read the full article from CMO Australia, click here.