Impact Area
Private Sector
This work set out to explore the experiences of disabled New Zealanders when accessing banking and payments, including the holistic impacts of any barriers, and to identify recommendations for change.
The Context
Nearly a quarter of our current population experience disability, and the number of disabled people and the rate of disability are set to increase significantly in the coming years, both in Aotearoa and around the world.
Where disabled people experience barriers to everyday activities such as banking, they are unable to participate and contribute on an equal basis with non-disabled people.
Westpac is motivated to advocate for better accessibility to banking and knows that there is much more to do to improve access for disabled people. Building on our previous work together on Access to Banking, Westpac NZ wanted to better understand disabled people’s experiences of banking in Aotearoa New Zealand. They were after insights from disabled people as well as recommendations for what they and the wider banking sector could do to improve the accessibility of banking services.
The Project
We conducted a series of engagements with disabled people and disability organisations to hear their stories and ideas about the accessibility of banking services and making payments. Our participants had lived experience of disability, and/or cared for disabled people in their family, and/or worked in organisations in a capacity that would give them insight into current experiences of disabled people accessing banking services.
We gave participants options for how they wanted to engage with us (i.e., interview, group engagement, in-person, online, or video responses) and designed different engagements to be inclusive. For example, we gave all participants control over the focus areas of our discussions, we had optional visual tools and interactive elements, and we adapted our approach for in-person versus online.
From our conversations, we were able to gather rich insight into banking experiences of disabled people and recommendations for the banking sector that would make services and payments more inclusive. Themes included:
(1) Balance risk and customer autonomy – While banks must continue to take risk management very seriously, there is an opportunity to strike a better balance between managing risk and enabling disabled people to exercise their autonomy.
(2) Make the mainstream accessible – While some specialist services are needed to better serve our diverse population, there are huge gains to be made by making mainstream banking services more accessible.
(3) Allow equitable access to choice – For many disabled customers, there is a lack of genuine choice for services, because certain options or channels are inaccessible.
(4) Build ongoing bank capability – To make banking services more inclusive, it is crucial to improve staff capability on accessibility and commit to ongoing revision and learning.
The Impact
The findings and recommendations in our report offer practical, realistic ways for banks, the banking sector, and regulators to collaborate with each other and partner with disabled people to create an inclusive and accessible banking environment from which all can benefit.
This work was welcomed by the disabled community; we received enthusiastic responses during the recruitment phase, and positive feedback from them following the final report delivery. We are so grateful to all those who contributed their stories and perspectives.
Westpac published our report on their website, so that others in the banking sector can access and ideally action recommendations independently and collectively. We were blown away by the list of initiatives and improvements that Westpac NZ introduced alongside this report (see here). This research was a key contributor to Westpac NZ’s pilot of “basic” bank accounts; a transactional bank account with simplified functionality, intended for customers who may need additional support to open an account.
Resources
Read the report here (accessible versions available):
Find press about the project here:
“Research we have commissioned over the past few years, including the Westpac NZ access to banking in Aotearoa report and the Westpac NZ disability and inclusion in banking report, has really brought home the need to reduce the barriers to opening a bank account.”
– Catherine McGrath, Westpac CEO
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