Australia Post signs up major bank to use Digital MailBox
Australia Post has signed up another large mailer to use the digital mail service it intends to launch later this year. Westpac is Australia’s second largest bank by assets and second largest home loans provider, with about 12.2m customers in Australia and New Zealand.
The company joins telecoms giant Telstra and financial services firm AMP in signing up to use Australia Post’s Digital Mailbox to send out secure electronic communications to customers.
The new Digital Mailbox will provide a kind of closed-loop email service in which consumers will receive electronic mail only from organizations they have a relationship with – including banks, utilities and government agencies.
Australia Post, which is using the Volly platform from Pitney Bowes to power its Digital MailBox service, says consumers will be able to receive bills and statements, set reminders and make payments online through any Internet-enabled device, as well as store electronic documents in a personal digital vault.
Australia Post chief executive and managing director Ahmed Fahour said: “Through the Australia Post Digital MailBox, Westpac will be able to share information with its customers about their finances, investments and products, safe in the knowledge that their information is secure; backed by Australia Post and protected in our Australian based cloud provided by Telstra.”
Australia Post is offering businesses a range of ways to integrate with the new Digital MailBox, highlighting the possibilities of using an integrated physical and digital marketing system – using the digital mail service along with the Post’s physical mail network to communicate with customers.
Westpac general manager for investments and business partnering, Les Vance, said using the digital mail service would provide his customers with more choice in how they keep in contact with the bank
He said: “From early next year Westpac customers that sign up to the service will also be able to access their financial information through the Digital Mailbox at a time that’s convenient for them.”
Australia Post is up against a private sector consortium, Digital Post Australia (DPA), which also intends to launch a digital mail service later in 2012. DPA is backed by IT firm Computershare, marketing firm Salmat and US-based digital mail provider Zumbox.
