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Westpac launches Australian 'first' - fingerprint sign-in for iPad banking app

 

7 April 2015

  • Touch ID now available for iPad banking users of Westpac Live
  • Follows highly successful launch of fingerprint sign-in for iPhone 5S, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus 
  • New security feature for Westpac Live which was ranked Best Innovative Online Banking Service in Money Magazine's 2015 Best of the Best Innovation awards.

Westpac customers will be able to use fingerprint sensor, known as Touch ID, to securely sign in to Westpac's new digital banking platform Westpac Live on their iPads - an Australian 'first' on Apple's ground-breaking tablet.

The new sign-in facility went live last week and has already been taken up by 3,000 customers in the first phase of the roll-out which alerts people digitally through their online accounts of the new feature. It adds further security and convenience for the increasing number of Westpac customers who are now banking on 'smart' mobile devices.

The launch of fingerprint sign in follows the introduction of fingerprint log in for mobile banking on the iPhone 5S, 6 and 6 Plus which in just over six weeks has seen 165,000 customers sign up to the new service. Fingerprint log-in is also available on the Samsung Galaxy 5 and Note 4.

Gai McGrath, General Manager, Westpac Retail Banking, said: "Over half of our digitally active customers are using mobile banking and are doing more than $50 billion worth of transactions each year.

"Our iPad banking app which was launched three years ago has played a significant part in the change customers have chosen to make in the way they bank with us and we have seen more than 560,000 of them download the app since then.

"Nearly 60 per cent of these customers use the app to do their banking on a regular basis, making $10 billion worth of transactions over the past 12 months alone.

"This pace of change has accelerated with banking on smartphones which we have also helped lead. This is something that will not slow down and we're excited to be at the forefront of yet another innovation, this time providing instant access to banking for customers via fingerprint sign in.

"This is the next step in for our successful digital banking service Westpac Live which has been used by over 2.9m personal customers to manage their accounts on the move and which we are now swiftly introducing to our 800,000-plus business customers.

"Our customers are increasingly demanding a better experience and greater consistency when accessing their bank accounts via their smartphone, their tablet, their PC and we are constantly innovating to deliver this.

"The simplicity of Westpac Live  and innovations such as fingerprint log-in are making the banking experience even quicker and easier for our customers so they can bank anytime, anywhere - banking at the speed of life."

Today's announcement follows a year of innovations at Westpac including; Westpac Get Cash which enables customers to withdraw cash from a Westpac ATM without a card by having a code sent to their phone; Westpac contactless payments; overseas travel notifications and Global Alliance overseas alerts to notify customers of their nearest Global Alliance partner ATM.  

Notes to editors
Westpac fingerprint sign in for Westpac Live on iPad is available across all supported iPads including iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 running IOS8.