Up (Australian bank)

Up, also known as Up Bank, Up Money and Up Banking, is an Australian neobank based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.[1] Founded in 2018, the bank is a collaboration between software development company Ferocia and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank.[2] By using the license of an established bank, Up avoids the issues with restricted banking licences encountered by similar banks such as Xinja and Volt.

Up Money Pty Ltd
TypePrivate
IndustryBanking
Founded2018 (2018)
Headquarters
Melbourne
,
Australia
Area served
Australia
Key people
ParentBendigo and Adelaide Bank
Websiteup.com.au

History

Originally named Alt,[3][4] Up Bank was founded in 2017 by parent Ferocia and partnered with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, who both companies had close ties to due to the development company redesigning Bendigo Bank's app. This allowed Up to thus use a license of a "traditional bank" and avoid impending delays of receiving an authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI) license seen through other banks such as Xinja and Volt.

On 2 March 2018, Up started promoting its service to Deakin University students during their orientation day, with 2,000 students signing up for their early beta phase.[5] The bank then announced on 28 March 2018 that it would support Apple Pay, Google Pay, Fitbit Pay and Garmin Pay at launch.[6] On 13 May 2018 the bank started its friends and family beta phase with a closed beta release on 2 August 2018.[7] Siri integration was then pushed out to beta users on 25 August 2018.[8] An invite system was introduced on 1 October 2018 to allow existing users to "invite a friend" through their mobile number and allow them to skip the waitlist[9] before the bank officially launched to the public on 9 October 2018, holding launch events in Melbourne and Sydney. The bank then held a stage at the annual gaming convention PAX in Melbourne on 26 October 2018.

On 8 November 2018 the bank was officially the first bank in Australia to provide instant Apple Pay provisioning, allowing consumers to add their card to their Apple Wallet before receiving their physical card.[10] Bank transfers via the New Payments Platform were then enabled on 21 November 2018 to a small group of users[11] before having a full rollout on 13 December 2018.[12] Up announced a new interest rate to their savings accounts titled as Savers on 27 December 2018.[13] The bank then teamed up with buy now, pay later company Afterpay, allowing bank users to link their app with Afterpay thus providing "smarter transaction viewing" as well as reminders on when their next payment would be via the "regulars" tab, a tab which was originally meant for subscriptions and direct debits.[14] The bank announced that they had 30,000 customers four months after their public launch.

Up then won "Exceptional Everyday Account" and "Regular Savers" awards from Mozo's annual Expert Choice Deposit Awards.[15]

Gamification of their account via Pull to Save released on 14 March 2019, allowing customers to pull their screen and release their cents to their savings.[16] On the next day, Up announced support for WatchOS and released their first Apple Watch app. Samsung Pay support was then released on 10 April 2019.[17] On 12 June 2019 the bank announced that they had reached 100,000 customers[18] whilst announcing on 18 June 2019 that the bank had also rolled out instant Google Pay provisioning, one of the first banks in Australia to do so. BPAY support was then released on 22 August 2019.[19]

Up then qualified and won "Digital Disrupter of the Year", "Best Tech Innovation" and "Best Banking Innovation" awards from the annual Finder Awards.[20] Scheduled and repeated payments as well as a new Salary Identification feature were then released on 10 September 2019.[21] The bank made a reappearance at PAX on 11 October 2019. On 15 October 2019, following digital banks such as Monzo in the UK and N26 in Europe, the bank announced a partnership with international payments service TransferWise via the "TransferWise for Banks" model with a private beta for November and an expected public release in Q4 of 2019. This makes Up Banking the first in the Asia-Pacific region to integrate TransferWise APIs.[22]

On 16 October 2019, Up held its first meetup at Panama Dining Room in Fitzroy, Victoria with the slogan #upspringtree. During the event, the bank announced its extension to the current roadmap (known as a tree) and announced features such as salary splitting, released on the same day and transactional-saving covering.[23]

By February 2020 they had grown to over 185,000 customers.[24]

Products

Up offers transaction and savings accounts. These are applied for and managed via a mobile app, and include features such as automatic saving of rounded transaction amounts, and analysis of spending patterns and locations.[25]

All accounts support the New Payments Platform, including PayID and Osko transfers. Transactions can be made using a variety of contactless payment solutions including Google Pay and Apple Pay. Payments are displayed in a conversational format, similar to Venmo and Beem It.[26]

References
  1. "About". Up - Super Powered Banking. Archived from the original on 6 August 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  2. Bendel, Nick (9 October 2018). "Digital bank Up turns, well, up". RateCity.com.au. Archived from the original on 25 June 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  3. Parker, Anson (25 January 2018). "Rebooting Banking". Medium. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  4. "Alt Bank is live!". Dribbble. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  5. Up (8 March 2018). "Almost 2000 awesome @Deakin students signed up for our early beta last week at #orientation". @up_banking. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  6. Up (27 March 2018). "It's Wristlemania time! We're now live with (from top to bottom) Google, Apple, Fitbit, AND Garmin Pay pic.twitter.com/myEr2jucZQ". @up_banking. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  7. Up (1 August 2018). "Our brand new website is now live!". @up_banking. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  8. Up (24 August 2018). "Beta Upsiders using iPhones will have probably seen Up has support for Siri. Once enabled, Siri allows you to check your Up balance and transfer money to your targets. Here's how..." @up_banking. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  9. Tagell, Paul (1 October 2018). "Oh hello there…new @up_banking invite-a-friend screens look sweet.pic.twitter.com/h9h0yt1WRV". @tagell. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  10. Up (7 November 2018). "Apple Pay provisioning is now part of the sign up flow for new customers. You can add your Up card to Apple Pay before the plastic arrives! We've also just given Apple Pay a permanent home You can always find 'setup Apple Pay' under the Card section of the Up tab pic.twitter.com/N9MWmoes6Q". @up_banking. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  11. Parker, Anson (21 November 2018). "Paying Someone". Medium. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  12. Up (12 December 2018). "PAYMENTS ARE NOW HERE! After installing our latest update, your 'Payments' screen will be unlocked and will be the home for all your payments needs!pic.twitter.com/CxvfDM5uiQ". @up_banking. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  13. Up (26 December 2018). "There's a new rate in town (kind of) Keep 2.75% p.a interest going on Up Savers by just making 5 card transactions per month after your 4 month introductory period ends. Easy / Make sure to check out the full T's & C's here:https://up.com.au/pricing". @up_banking. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  14. Up (3 February 2019). "AFTERPAY WITH UP / Get smarter transactions: name, logo and category as well as itemised receipt / Stay on top of your Afterpays by budgeting for each instalment. Read more about it in our new blog!https://up.com.au/blog/afterpaying-with-up/ …". @up_banking. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  15. "Banking with the best - Mozo announces the best bank and savings accounts for 2019". mozo.com.au. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  16. Up (13 March 2019). "PULL TO SAVE IS HERE / Pull down on your activity feed to send your spare cents flying to the high heavens and straight into your round up enabled Saver. Download the latest version of the app and have more than $10 in your account to start pulling / Warning Dangerously addictive pic.twitter.com/3Y5gl5FUvf". @up_banking. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  17. Up (9 April 2019). "Another day. Another way to pay. Samsung Pay is now available with Up / Add your Up card to your supported Samsung device from today! @SamsungPay #samsungpay #upyeahpic.twitter.com/rVFQk9OtXL". @up_banking. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  18. Up (11 June 2019). "A Mega Milestone, let's take a second to celebrate. 100K Customers are now on Up". @up_banking. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  19. Up (21 August 2019). "The day is finally here Blast those bills away. You can now pay with BPAY on Up. Upsider Payments are bringing on a new kind of connection. It's a deeper bond. Up 1.6.5 is live. Get the full details on the blog:https://up.com.au/blog/up-1-6-5-release-notes/ …". @up_banking. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  20. Finder. "2019 Finder Awards winners". finder.com.au. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  21. Up (9 September 2019). "Here we go! clear your schedules for this one..classic. Scheduled & Repeating Payments are here! Pay it now, Pay it later, Pay it every second Thursday at 3:17am. Up to you. Version 1.8.0 out now /Salary Identification". @up_banking. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  22. "The Tree of Up — Up Product Tree". Up - Super Powered Banking. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  23. Meet-Up No.1 Oct 2019 - Spring Tree, retrieved 26 October 2019
  24. Derwin, Jack. "While other neobanks are 'racing for deposits', Up Bank has secretly been building something bigger". Business Insider Australia. Pedestrian Group. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  25. Rowl, Chris (30 October 2018). "Digital bank Up launches with Google Pay, fee-free banking and Android app". Ausdroid. Archived from the original on 20 May 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  26. Banney, Alison (17 December 2018). "Digital bank Up: Hands-on review of new conversational payments". finder.com.au. Archived from the original on 20 May 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
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