Photo: 123rf
Westpac has added Hindi, Samoan and Tongan language options to all 373 of its ATMs to make banking more accessible for diverse communities.
"New Zealand is a multicultural society, so we want to make sure we're reflecting that in the services we provide," said Andrew Twidle, acting managing director of consumer banking & wealth at Westpac NZ.
Twidle said the update would support users in navigating their transactions more confidently in the language of their choice.
The new options were available on both standard and Smart Westpac ATMs, enabling customers to make withdrawals, deposits, balance enquiries and bill payments in Hindi, Samoan or Tongan, he said.
"We want to make sure everyone feels confident about using our ATMs for their banking needs," Twidle said.
"We've had English, Mandarin and te reo Māori language options on our ATMs for some time and it's fantastic to now be able to support more people with the addition of Tongan, Samoan and Hindi," he added.
The 2023 Census showed the Indian population had surpassed the Chinese community to become the third-largest ethnic group in New Zealand.
A total of 292,092 people in the country identified as a member of the Indian community in the 2023 Census, an increase of 22 percent since 2018.
Other major banks, including ANZ and BNZ, offered language options such as te reo Māori, Chinese, Korean and Japanese at ATMs.
Many banks, including ASB and TSB, also provideed multilingual customer support services.
Westpac last year introduced a phone interpretation service called Language Loop, which enabled staff to access interpreters when customers preferred to communicate in a language other than English.
More than 190 languages, including Hindi, Samoan, Tongan and Mandarin, were supported by Language Loop.
Westpac said the Language Loop service had been used more than 350 times since its launch.
"It sounds like a simple change, but it's something we know will make a meaningful difference to many Kiwis, as well as visitors to our country," Twidle said.
