UBank appeals to the well off
Gerd Schenkel, General Manager UBank, says the typical customer of the online banking brand owned by NAB is a highly engaged, high net worth individual who probably heard about UBank through word of mouth.UBank's term deposit product aimed at self managed super funds, launched in February, has been particularly successful in attracting balances to the brand, says Schenkel.To appeal to its high net worth target audience, UBank plans to expand into mortgages and transaction accounts. Schenkel mentions investment home loans in particular. But new products will only be developed slowly and deliberately. "When we studied other banks, overseas in particular, we found that some had launched too many products too quickly."Then the service experience can suffer and error rates go up."UBank customer service is provided by its North Sydney call centre."Our call centre would probably have a higher cost per call than most," says Schenkel. "Calls are less scripted than most so our staff can have a more free-flowing interaction."For a branchless model where there is no face-to-face interaction, the telephone is as rich an interaction as you are going to get so the experience has to be very, very good."