Westpac PNG has been announced a joint winner of the 2017 Rueben James Summerlin (RJS) Innovation Award.
The bank was announced a joint winner by the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP) following recognition of its ‘innovation hub in the Highlands Region’ of PNG.
Westpac PNG along with the Solomon Islands National Provident Fund (SINPF) SINPF were both awarded the RJS honor.
The RJS Innovative Award, which is in its second year, is bestowed upon a PFIP financial service provider that has made the greatest contribution to financial inclusion in the Pacific for that year.
Westpac PNG was recognized for its Highlands Innovation Hub, which is set up to design, test and validate a commercially scalable model from providing financial services to low-income populations such as women and small holder farms.
PFIP Technical Specialist, Jagdeep Dahiya, said the project inspired locals in the Highlands region to use services to manage and improve their daily financial lives.
“The design approach being used has already successfully revamped Westpac PNG’s entire customer on-boarding experience, with a human centered design approach, to development of the Choice Wantok product, and merchant network providing accessibility.
“The Innovation hub is also considering future product development to meet the needs of clients, such as short term credit and money transfer services via a mobile banking platform,” he said.
Meanwhile the SINPF was awarded one of the RJS award based on their structured approach to developing a micro pension product for voluntary contributors to the national superannuation fund.
The PFIP says this product has the potential for extensive scale-up to serve the self employed sector.