BankWest is bringing a smile to some of the nation's most famous statues today with the launch of the bank's newest initiative, Happy Banking.
BankWest transformed fifty prominent statues from all across Australia, into smiling, happy landmarks, under the artistic eye of an urban street. The collaborative work interprets the concept of happiness with the intention of bringing a smile to commuters on their way into work.
BankWest's Happy Banking is set to revolutionise the way people bank with friendlier, more personal stores and a host of new banking initiatives developed as a response to consumer feedback.
BankWest Retail Chief Executive Ian Corfield commented, "There's a long way to go before banking becomes a truly happy experience but BankWest wants to change customers' perception of banking and show them how we are making banking a more enjoyable, positive experience."
"With 160 of our new retail concept stores opening over three years, BankWest is working to change how banking is done in Australia. We've got rid of unfriendly teller barriers, we are introducing innovative, high performing products, and customers can grab a coffee while they do their banking."
The first product to launch under BankWest's Happy Banking initiative is the BankWest Rate Tracker home loan. BankWest Rate Tracker offers customers an interest rate 0.75% p.a. lower than the average standard variable rate of the big four banks for the first two years of the loan.
The BankWest Rate Tracker home loan currently offers an introductory rate of 8.23% p.a. (comparison rate of 8.46%*) and after two years reverts to the competitive BankWest Lite home loan rate.
"BankWest's Rate Tracker was developed with consumers in mind and can save thousands each year off the average standard variable rate home loan. BankWest Rate Tracker is a first for Australian banks and offers some serious competition to the mortgage market in Australia," Mr Corfield said.
As a part of Happy Banking, BankWest commissioned research to understand the state of happiness and wealth of Australians and make positive changes to banking.
The survey + , which questioned more than 2500 people found more than 70% of Australians felt complacent about what to expect from their banking provider and nearly half (48%) would switch banks because of poor service. Better rates and terms were also important in the decision to switch with 46% claiming they would change banks for this reason.
"Happy Banking is a journey to change banking in Australia and will encompass everything we do - it's not one thing, it's everything we do and we want our customers to feel happy with our products, our service, our staff and our stores," Mr Corfield said.
"We initially set out to offer a better deal, and while we are still doing this, we now want to take that further and shape the future of banking in Australia."
The Happy Banking campaign is backed up by new, animated happy TV commercials and a website dedicated to the pursuit of understanding happiness through a number of inventive and interactive experiments.
