The digital economy has radically transformed how Australians interact with their finances. The cash economy is on the decline, and fintech payment systems are posing a major challenge to traditional payment platforms.

Now, the nation’s largest institutions are capitalising on the demand for “invisible” experiences.

Westpac is investing resources in creating invisible experiences, off the back of customer demand.

“Financial services are being increasingly being embedded into sort of digital experiences separate from the financial services itself. And we see that development of invisible finance right across the financial spectrum,” said chief development officer Macgregor Duncan.

Mr Duncan said there were obvious examples of apps like Uber, where payment was embedded seamlessly into the app, and that is what customers wanted.

“Increasingly, customers don’t want to have to go to branch; they don’t want to have to go to the mobile app. They just want banking to happen seamlessly and invisibly,” he said.

Managing a legacy

While younger generations are on board with the invisible experience, older customers remain attached to the bank branches, Mr Duncan said.

“How to solve that tension is to have a suite of options at your disposal to ensure that the bank is covering both today’s customer and what tomorrow’s customers might want.

“The future’s not always linear and we can take different paths, which is why we partner with people outside the bank – with founders and entrepreneur who are dynamic, focused and sort of rethinking how financial services can work,” he said.