Bendigo and Adelaide Bank still spending big on IT
Following staff and occupancy costs, IT was the next largest expense for Bendigo and Adelaide Bank during the 2014 financial year.
Based on results for the year ended 30 June 2014, the bank spent a total of AU$70 million on IT, up 8.4 per cent or AU$5.4 million from last year's AU$64.6 million. The bank spent AU$34.2 million of that total during the six months ending 31 December. This was AU$1.6 million less than the same period during the 2013 financial year.
The bank attributed the increase in total IT spend to an increase in software maintenance and costs associated with the implementation of the bank's new website, which is now a mobile friendly site.
Most recently, the bank's telecommunication subsidiary, Community Telco Australia, and Samsung Electronics Australia together launched a retail point of sale mobile payment solution, redy. The platform enables customers the ability to make payments using their Android or Apple mobile device with the redy app by scanning a QR code that is displayed on a dedicated Samsung redy tablet at the point of sale.
"Like all industry participants, we are alert to the potential for disruption in the market and we are building the flexibility required to compete in different environments," said Mike Hirst, group managing director, in a statement.
"A big piece of that is our investment in achieving advanced accreditation. There is a lot of focus on the increased risk management capability that it will deliver to the bank, but it's bigger than that — we're just as focused on the improved service and turnaround times it will bring about for customers.
"We announced a number of cutting-edge technologies during the year, with each innovation based on what customers were asking for, or where we saw we could add value for our communities."
Hirst highlighted a number of other new technologies the company has been working on — and are expected for release soon — include a banking app for its business customers; a mobile banking app that customers will be able to personalise; a mobile digital wallet dedicated to improve students' on-campus university experience; and a universal terminal that will merge traditional payment methods with virtual currencies and loyalty programs onto one devices.