As we grow in scale and capability, we are continuing to innovate and ensure the needs of our customers are being met. This builds on the foundations for growth we’ve put in place, including better infrastructure and streamlined processes that improve our customers’ experiences.
Building better foundations in the cloud
Great Southern Bank is migrating and transforming a number of key services from traditional data centres to the cloud that will enhance efficiency and agility, drive simplification, improve member experience, foster innovation, and accelerate speed-to-market for our products and services.
The scalable, cloud based Lendfast home loan system was our most important technology launch last year. Designed to make it easier and faster to get a home loan, the system was also designed to accommodate a vast increase in new home applications. After its rollout to customers and brokers, by June it was processing a 60 per cent increase in applications.
Safeguarding our customers
Cyber security threats continued to evolve throughout the year. The shift to remote working and uptake of collaborative technologies due to the pandemic resulted in increased attacks across many industries.
We have been strengthening our cyber defence and resilience through a multi-year program that offers new technical capabilities enabling us to detect and respond rapidly to new and emerging cyber threats. We have also strengthened governance and assurance frameworks across our partners and suppliers. In keeping with our position as a credible, modern bank, our investment in risk and compliance - including work on anti-money laundering – has increased significantly over the last two years.
Open Banking
Open Banking is making it easier for our customers to compare and switch between products and service from different financial providers. Our significant investment in Open Banking means our customers can share share eligible information around savings, transations, term deposits, credit cards, home loans and personal loans. Ultimately, they will receive the benefits of greater competition between financial providers, while enjoying greater choice and control over how their data is used and disclosed.
A new home
In July 2022 we will move to our new headquarters at 300 George Street in Brisbane, which offers 5,680 square metres of office space across three levels with an option to increase floor space in the future.
The new headquarters will house around 800 employees and is designed to foster collaboration, ultimately benefiting customers through increased efficiency and greater productivity.