Customer safety will be front and centre when banks design their products and services under a new global leading initiative launched today by the Australian Banking Association, in partnership with Westpac.
The new Safety by Design toolkit, developed by Westpac and made accessible to the sector, will give banks access to more guidance to ensure products and services are designed to better safeguard customers from financial abuse and to identify perpetrators of financial abuse.
ABA CEO Anna Bligh said that Australian banks were leading the charge in making banking safer for customers.
"Banking staff on the frontline see instances of financial abuse every day," Ms Bligh said.
"Safety by Design principles allow bankers to put user safety and rights at the centre of the design of banking products. This means it will be harder for perpetrators to exploit banking products and services to control and financially abuse people."
Westpac Head of Vulnerability Strategy and Governance, Tiffiny Lewin, says sharing best practice across industry is how real, systemic change occurs.
"While it is good for us to build capability within our own organisation, it is even better, if we move as an industry. We hope the resources developed by Westpac will be used across our peer organisations to support all customers - no matter who they bank with."
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant says technology-facilitated abuse is a pervasive problem that affects large numbers of Australians in a range of contexts, including their financial affairs.
"The Safety by Design toolkit is a crucial step towards enabling banks to better protect their customers from these harms. By embedding user safety into the core design of banking products, we can prevent perpetrators from exploiting financial systems to control or abuse others.
"By implementing these principles, banks can create an environment that not only safeguards users, but also actively supports customers' right to have safe access their accounts and make informed financial decisions without fear of technology-facilitated abuse or financial exploitation.
"We commend Westpac's efforts to freely share these tools and best practices with other banks and financial institutions."
Today's announcement builds on previous work by the banking industry to prevent financial abuse and protect customers. These measures include:
- implementing a consistent framework to support customers experiencing financial abuse and family and domestic violence via ABA industry guidelines
- taking action against customers abusing others through online transaction descriptions; and
- changing bank terms and conditions to make it clear that they cannot be used as a weapon of financial abuse.
