Westpac brings in-app calling to mobile banking customers

Westpac will introduce in-app calling inside of its mobile banking app within months as a security measure, with the service powered by Vonage and Optus.

(L) Optus Interim CEO, Michael Venter and (R) Westpac CEO, Peter King

The bank said that moving phone calls to run inside the app would make it easier for customers to distinguish whether an inbound call is genuine or a scam.

Calls in the app will appear with Westpac branding, will “show a reason for the call” and allow the bank to more easily identify the customer “once they log in” to accept it.

Westpac is calling its service ‘SafeCall’ and has partnered with Optus to implement it, in part using technology from Ericsson-owned Vonage.

“Using this technology, when a customer receives a call from Westpac, their phone will display Westpac as the caller, along with a verification by Optus and a reason for the call,” Westpac CEO Peter King said in a statement.

“This will help to provide customers with the confidence and added security to help beat scammers and know that they really are talking to their bank.”

SafeCall “will be gradually rolled out to Westpac customers in the coming months,” he added.

Westpac said that it had stopped “over $400 million from being lost to scammers” through a range of initiatives to date, including payment checks and blocks on certain types of payments, such as to cryptocurrency exchanges.

NAB introduced in-app calling for similar reasons last year; its services are powered by AWS.