Bankwest customers will be able to use jewelry to make contactless payments. The bank today unveiled ‘Halo’: A ring that supports tap and go payments.
The ring functions identically to contactless payments with a credit or debit card and is linked to a customer’s Bankwest account.
The release of the payment ring was based on a trial of wearable devices that the bank staged last year. The trial included Bankwest employees and customers.
The bank said delivery of the Halo project was made possible through the its “new customer-obsessed, agile approach to working”.
“Colleagues with skills in design thinking, software engineering, product development and marketing have worked collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team to bring this experience to market,” the bank said in a statement.
The agile approach delivered the new offering to market much significantly faster than a traditional waterfall delivery model would have, according to Andy Weir, the banks executive general manager, technology and transformation.
“Bankwest is leveraging both new technologies and new ways of working, to meet rapidly changing customer needs and we’re transforming into an environment with the very best technology, design and creative professionals, who think and act differently,” he said.
“The team used a mixture of lean, agile and design-thinking, within an iterative test and learn approach. It’s been hugely energising and satisfying to see the new ways of working in action, which provide a great test case for our customer obsessed approach.”
“The learnings from this initiative will be shared across all of our multi-disciplinary tribes at Bankwest, as we expand our roll out to the new ways of working.”
“Our customers’ lives are so varied and this ring offers them complete freedom to pay wherever and however they want. The likes of cyclists, swimmers, surfers and joggers will love the Bankwest Halo’s convenience,” said Bankwest general manager, customer communications and brand, Nichole Banks.
Bankwest in November revealed it had built a major new service using Amazon Web Services’ Lambda offering, which it said made it one of the first Australian financial institutions to use serverless computing in production.
The Bankwest Halo ring costs $39, although it is currently available for $29 as part of a launch offer.