ANZ enters beta for digital home loans

ANZ Banking Group has started internal beta testing of a digital home loan proposition, ahead of a planned launch in the second half of 2023.

The bank kicked off the internal beta test this week, allowing staff with existing home loans to apply for refinancing via the ANZ Plus app.

It intends to progressively expand the number of loan types it supports over time.

Managing director for ANZx design and delivery Peter Dalton said the beta followed a series of alpha releases and is intended to “really make sure the proposition is robust”.

“The beta testing phase is to test the end-to-end proposition with real customers … real home loans, real data, real exceptions," he said.

“We'll monitor the platforms and the experience and what customers see and we'll finetune it.

“We'll [also] continue to add features over the next few months and into next year."

Subject to customer feedback, the plan is to launch the capability as a "minimum viable proposition" in the second half of 2023.

The bank demonstrated the beta release and indicated considerable time had been spent on streamlining the end-to-end experience, including the questions asked of applicants.

There is human support “to help at every step of the way" if customers require it, Dalton said.

"This is not 'digital only'," he said. "It's digital and automated with human assistance if the customer would like it."

Dalton said while the bank’s first priority is on refinancing variable loans, other loan types would be added over time.

The bank also plans to offer the digital home loan capabilities via its broker channel in the future as well.

"The first proposition doesn't have the brokers in it," Dalton said. "We're doing it for ourselves or our own channels."

The digital home loan process also integrates with PEXA, a digital property settlement system.

ANZ digital home loans have been in the works at the bank since the launch of the ANZ Plus retail banking platform and app in March this year.

ANZ Plus is attracting around “2000 customers a day”, Dalton said, and has surpassed 100,000 in total.

Dalton saw ANZ as being well positioned in the digital home loan market despite competition from other financial institutions.

"We already know that nearly 30 percent of Australians start home loan applications online and digitally but almost none finish them digitally, from the information that we can see," he said.

“We think this is where the industry is going: data-led home loans that are fully digital.

"You can see it with everyone else dabbling in this space as well, so we are going as fast as we can."

Dalton said ANZ is hoping to secure "20 or 30 percent of the [addressable] market within the first 12 months" of public launch.