ANZ appoints first Chief Design Officer to build out new experiences for customers

ANZ has announced the appointment of Opher Yom-Tov, former general manager of global design consulting firm IDEO, as the bank’s first Chief Design Officer (CDO).

In the new role, Yom-Tov will lead a team of design specialists in building out ANZ’s human-centered design capabilities, improving experiences for both employees and customers.

The staple method of how Yom-Tov’s previous design business, IDEO, approached design work, the human-centered framework means the ANZ team will work to develop effective solutions for problems by focusing on the end-user or stakeholders throughout the design process.

Starting out as a project manager for IDEO, Yom-Tov worked at the firm for over 10 years, ending his tenure in the position of innovation strategist based in IDEO’s Shanghai office. Moving on to work for BT Financial Group and Westpac, the CDO then went on to cofound Sydney-based radio startup AirShr.

Through an app, AirShr allowed users to gain more control over their radio content, while allowing radio broadcasters to digitally interact with their listeners in real time.

The startup closed its doors late last year, with Yom-Tov shifting his focus towards his concurrent role of design advisor at brand platform Inkl, and as ANZ’s human-centered design advisor.

Yom-Tov will report to ANZ digital banking group executive Maile Carnegie, who said that the appointment of a CDO reflects the bank’s focus on developing digital experiences tailored to customer needs.

“Ensuring that great design is part of our development process is an important part of ANZ’s digital transformation and is essential to making sure we provide our customers what they really want,” she said.

“Opher’s appointment to this new role will help us deliver compelling experiences by putting ourselves in the customer’s shoes, which is one of the core principles of working in an agile way.”

Looking to further the company’s digital offering to customers, ANZ also this week announced that it would be rolling out a voice ID feature for mobile banking. The technology had been piloted by the bank in recent months, with development supported by voice biometrics company Nuance.

Using the voice technology, ANZ customers will be able to authorise higher value transactions. Called ‘Pay Anyone’, payments of more than $1,000 can be made without the need to log into internet banking, head into an ANZ branch, or remember pins and passwords.

Voice ID can also be used to authorise BPAY payments above $10,000 made through mobile.

Speaking about the technology, ANZ managing director of customer experience Peter Dalton, said the feature would be “good news” for small businesses who are regularly making transactions while on the go.

Dalton said, “This is a significant security update that will make it easier for our customers to complete high value transactions on their smartphones.

Customers increasingly want the convenience of banking on their digital devices and this solution delivers that with the added level of voice biometric security,” he said.

To support regional customers, ANZ has also opened a new digital branch in Wodonga to help the bank service across in North East Victoria.

The digital branch consists of an open-floor of roaming tellers and a digital self-service banking option, serviced by three ANZ ‘Smart ATMs’ that are available for access at all hours.

Simon Mallia, the district manager of North East Victoria, said the digital bank was established as a way to meet the changing needs of regional customers, who are no longer visiting branches for basic transactions.

“Our customers tend to only visit our branch when they need advice on important matters such as home or business loans, and the new layout provides a more comfortable setting to navigate these often-complex decisions while saving time on everyday banking tasks,” he said.

“The opening of this digital branch shows we are determined to meet our customers’ changing needs and we will continue to do so in the future.”

Image: Opher Yom-Tov. Source: Twitter.