Jon Linehan

The Defence Bank has expanded its offering to members and potential members with the launch of a new superannuation and pension product.

Called Defence Bank Super, the new product has been designed for members in either the accumulation or the retirement stage of life.

The CEO of the Defence Bank, Jon Linehan, says the decision to establish a superannuation product is part of this mutual bank’s strategy to provide a full suite of products to Defence Bank’s more than 90,000 members, as well as new members.

“We are excited by this initiative. It will build on the strong rapport we have with our members. We have seen already keen interest in the product, with the initial feedback from our members being extremely positive.

“Defence Bank Super has been designed to be a simple, competitive way of saving for retirement and enjoying the security of an income stream in retirement. Members can manage their superannuation through online banking 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“Our aim is to provide a total package with members having five investment options, from term deposits to a growth option, as well as having access to life, total and permanent disability and income protection insurance.

“Similar to the Defence Bank’s Super Assured Retirement Savings Account (RSA), this superannuation and pension product will be classified a Tier 1 product, meaning members can get information about it from one of the Defence Bank’s retail investment team.”

The establishment of Defence Bank Super follows the successful launch and consistent growth of the Defence Bank’s RSA (now the largest in the mutual space) with term deposits and no fees.

Linehan says: “We launched the RSA when there was a large section of our membership looking for certainty of return and safety against the backdrop of volatile markets.

“For us, it is now the next logical step to ensure members have a range of superannuation options to choose from. The design of the product is consistent with feedback we’re getting from our RSA members: keep it simple with a preference still for term deposits with an option to invest in the share markets.

“We also believe that bank cash, fixed and term deposits will perform well compared with other fixed interest products and funds in rising interest rate markets.”

Linehan also announced that the Defence Bank’s RSA product has been improved.

“When members log-in now, they can quickly see their account balance. It’s an initiative that members have been asking for and we are pleased to have implemented it.”

The post Defence Bank launches new super and pension product appeared first on AdviserVoice.

The new service, which will be launched in June, closely follows the bank’s introduction of Australia’s first video banking call centre earlier this year. This represents yet another move by Defence Bank to better service its membership base that is spread across Australia and overseas, often in remote locations.

Defence Bank CEO Jon Linehan said: “This is an exciting initiative for our members. Both members of overseas forces serving here and our Defence personnel serving in other countries will be able to transfer money in a cost effective and convenient manner.

“We are the first mutual bank to take this step, recognising the important need of such a service for members. We anticipate there will be strong interest from Defence personnel.”

Mr Linehan also said it will be a simple process for members to transfer money online. “Members will be able to access this service by simply selecting the ‘Overseas Payments’ menu tab once they have securely signed into Online Banking.
“They will then be given an option of nominating the foreign currency equivalent in Australian dollars, or the required amount of foreign currency.

“Once they have provided the beneficiary’s banking details and accepted the currency conversion quote, confirmation of the transaction will be provided both onscreen and via an email receipt.

“Initially there will be 43 currencies available and it is envisaged that this will increase to 130 currencies later this year.”

The post Defence Bank offers online international funds transfer appeared first on AdviserVoice.