How Up says it disrupts the banking sector

Up was one of Australia’s first neobanks that emerged in 2018 after APRA granted more freedom for digital banks to open in the country. Since launching it has changed the way Australians have banked, being a technology-led bank.

Dom Pym spoke to Digital Nation Australia about how the bank broke through traditional banking norms through innovation.

Pym said Up was the first bank in Australia to do instant issuance with Apple Wallet.

“Before Up existed, you could not sign up a bank account instantly in Australia. You can sign up a bank account on the website with CommBank, or you could even in some of the banking apps,” Pym explained.

“But then you would have to wait for the debit card to arrive in the mail. Then you would have to scan it with your phone or add it to your wallet, and the card was inactive. Then you'd have to activate the card you have to call up the call centre or go into the branch.

“To get a bank account before up existed, and remember apps only four years old, so five years ago, to get a bank account in Australia could take anywhere between say five and 10 business days,” he added.

Pym took a step back and saw where the Big 4 banks had weaknesses.

He said, “Things like customer support, technology outages, interoperability partnerships and brand; they were the areas where we looked at the way that the incumbent banks operated. We thought, ‘how can we dominate in each one of those different sectors?’

“We wanted to dominate in engineering and technology and that made sense to the consumer. We could say to the consumer, we are a technology-led bank, not a bank-led technology. That really resonated and was our catchphrase for the first two, three years of up. Everyone knew us as that bank that has a great app that never goes down and delivers this these features that no other banks offer,” he said.