Westpac
Current Services
Like ANZ and CBA, Westpac also has a specific section for SMEs. There is a range of related services such as eMarket, online superannuation administration, import/export services, and share trading. Unfortunately, these other services, such as super and research, require different IDs and passwords.
With Westpac you can perform all the standard transactions such as transfer between funds, BPay, and Pay anyone. Pay Anyone has a selectable amount of AU$1,000 or $5,000 per day.
Transaction history is available for the last 100 days, and you can view and print statements from the last 12 months.
In a function not often seen in Internet banking, you can set up special access for your accountant where you can specify the access level. For example, you can allow full access, or read only.
Westpac also has a specialised fund transfer for ATO's GST payments. This is basically BPay the ATO pre-programmed, but also includes your unique identification code for the payment making GST payments a simple process.
For those with a personal Westpac account, you can link it with your business account to see everything at once.
Westpac also offers the broadest range of expert formats including MYOB v9 for PC and Mac, Quicken v6 and v7, Excel, MS Money 98 and 99/2000, OFX, and a range of different date formats, depending on your software.
Future Directions
Westpac is certainly keeping busy with its business services including the forthcoming online credit applications and B2Buy to help SMEs simplify and reduce procurement costs. It also plans to introduce online foreign exchange capabilities.
In terms of Internet banking capabilities, pay anyone is being increased to a AU$25,000 daily limit, and there'll be facilities to import your payroll file, make batched payment templates, scheduled transactions and support for multiple signatures accounts.
Usability
The usability of the Westpac online banking was good as the design was simple and clear to understand. This was mainly because of the smaller set of functionality currently on offer.
Error handling was inefficient, and took you to a screen to report the error, rather than keep you on the same page and show you where the mistakes were made. After clicking 'OK', you return to the previous page and many of your settings are lost - you have to start again.
The export function was confusing with the way the range of options was presented. It was easy to make two contradictory selections without knowing which would appear in the export. Long dates were expressed as 'ccyy' referring to the inclusion of the century, instead of just using 'yyyy'.
Westpac also provides support for Macintosh customers.
Conclusion
If the peripheral services were all more tightly integrated, this service would give ANZ a run for its money. The new services coming should make it a solid offering.
Overall rating 3.5 / 5
A big problem delaying greater use of all forms of electronic banking is a valid distrust of banks. A number of times I have needed to change banks because the bank has discontinued a service, made a service uneconomic or broken their promise to me. Banks breaking their promises of a frequent problem. The managers who make offers and promises to you have no discretion to keep the promise when Head Office changes the rules.
When you have to change banks it creates big problems if you have organised direct payments into your account for dividend and investment receipts. Before you can change banks you have a huge list of people you have to advise your new account well in advance and then some are still going to go to the old account. In the end it is so much easier and safer to simply get paid by cheque and refuse the requests for direct payment.
What is needed is a reverse BPay where a payee can give payors a code. That code goes to a web table that I can update. Each time that someone has to make a payment to me they download the current bank details from that secure site. When I wish to change my bank I only have to change that one web table for all my payments to go to the new account.