Westpac develops toolkit to embed safety into banking product design
The Australian Banking Association (ABA) and Westpac have launched a new Safety by Design initiative aimed at protecting customers from financial abuse.
The program, which includes a toolkit developed by Westpac, seeks to embed user safety into the design of banking products and services across the industry, with resources made available to all banks.
The Safety by Design toolkit offers guidance for banks to prevent products and services from being misused to control or exploit individuals financially. It also aims to help banking staff identify potential cases of financial abuse, a form of domestic violence that includes tactics such as withholding funds, controlling household finances, or preventing someone from accessing their own money.
According to ABA chief executive Anna Bligh, Australian banks are taking a leading role in making financial products safer.
“Banking staff on the frontline see instances of financial abuse every day,” Bligh said. “Safety by Design principles allow bankers to put user safety and rights at the centre of the design of banking products, making it harder for perpetrators to exploit these services.”
Tiffiny Lewin (pictured above), head of vulnerability strategy and governance at Westpac, emphasised the importance of sharing best practices across the banking sector.
“While it is good for us to build capability within our own organisation, it is even better if we move as an industry,” Lewin said. “We hope the resources developed by Westpac will be used across our peer organisations to support all customers — no matter who they bank with.”
The toolkit incorporates resources that Westpac has implemented over the past 18 months, including new alerts to flag potential abuse of powers of attorney and measures to stop abusive language in online transaction descriptions.
The bank has also introduced features such as a “Gambling Block” to help customers manage their spending, updated terms and conditions to reflect a zero-tolerance stance on financial abuse, and mandatory training for over 1,200 staff involved in product management.
Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s eSafety commissioner, commended the initiative, noting that technology-facilitated abuse is a widespread issue in Australia that often extends to financial settings.
“The Safety by Design toolkit is a crucial step towards enabling banks to better protect their customers from these harms,” she said. “By embedding user safety into the core design of banking products, we can prevent perpetrators from exploiting financial systems to control or abuse others.”
The initiative builds on previous industry efforts to address financial abuse, including ABA guidelines to support customers affected by domestic and family violence, actions to prevent misuse of online transaction descriptions, and updates to bank terms and conditions to curb financial abuse.
The launch of the Safety by Design program comes as a federal parliamentary inquiry into financial abuse is expected to release its final recommendations in December.
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