YOUR Annual Report: Updating you on our transformation

Police Bank exists to serve its members. Our Police Bank Annual Report is an important way we update you each year on the work we are doing to bring you a better banking experience and continue to support our members and communities. This year’s report includes an update on our technological transformation, which will deliver a new and better way of banking with us.

For the past few years, Chief Executive Officer Greg McKenna has been working with his team behind the scenes to modernise Police Bank’s technology and build a digital banking experience for members that is easy and intuitive to use.

In our 2023 Annual Report, he explains why the decision was taken to modernise the bank by updating our IT infrastructure, while maintaining a strong service culture:

“When we first decided it was time to modernise Police Bank, it was clear things weren’t working as well as they could. Our members told us it was becoming increasingly difficult to transact with us: We were using paper-based forms and clunkier processes that were designed for a different era.

“At the same time though, they said they wanted us to maintain our service standards, continue to operate branches, and have human touchpoints available to support their borrowing and deposit journeys.”

Becoming a bank of the future

The response was to come up with a hybrid model.

“We envisioned a customer-centric bank that merges technology with customer service to deliver on our members’ needs, both today and in several years’ time,” McKenna says.  

“Our transformation is now almost complete, and we will soon unveil a new technology-based way of banking with us.”

Looking forward to the next 60 years

As Police Bank approaches the celebration of its 60^th anniversary next year, Chairman Peter Remfrey shares that our transformation journey will underpin the bank’s sustainability in the decades to come:

“We began this journey to set up the bank for the next 60 years, so that members’ children and grandchildren can experience our commitment to service – and community, too.

“While our work is not yet complete, the past financial year and its outstanding results have brought us closer to being able to showcase the changes we’ve made to shore up our future.”

A new core banking system, for more seamless banking

A key part of ensuring our sustainability is a new core banking system, which will offer members a more seamless way of banking with us.

To ensure we get the process right, we’ve engaged expert board advisor Glenn Stafford, who has consulted on core banking systems across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.

“With Glenn’s oversight, we’ve undergone a process of continual review to ensure the new system is fit-for-purpose and future-proof,” says Remfrey.

Staff to be freed up for more purposeful matters – like conversations with you

He stresses that our digital transformation will not reduce face-to-face interaction between members and our staff:

“We know that’s one of the reasons our members value Police Bank and show loyalty to us. In fact, the technology is designed to free up staff from clunky systems to focus on more purposeful matters. We envision staff having more conversations with members about their banking journeys and goals – something that sets Police Bank apart from our competitors, especially in an age of cost-cutting and consolidation.”

We’re being guided by you

Through surveys and informal feedback, our members have told us what we should improve and what we should retain. It’s helped guide us towards a new model of technology-driven service. Similarly, our staff have been bold in telling us where we can deliver a market-leading offering to best serve our customers.

“Police Bank is unashamedly here for its members and its community. We are investing in the infrastructure to make it easier for you to bank with us, now and in the future,” says McKenna.

In this article, we’ve focused on our IT transformation, but there is so much more in our Annual Report, on equally important matters, including our support for members through difficult times as interest rates have risen and put pressure on household budgets, and our

ongoing commitment to giving back to the community via contributions to charities, community events, and sporting organisations.

We urge you to take a look at the full report here.