St. George brings net banking to smartwatches
St. George has become the first bank in Australia to tap into the growing wearable technology trend with a new banking app for smartwatches.
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St. George has become the first bank in Australia to tap into the growing wearable technology trend with a new banking app designed for smartwatches.
Available today on the Google Play store, the smartwatch-optimised mobile banking app allows Android users to access account balances, view SMS alerts and emails with details of deposits and withdrawals, and find directions to their nearest ATM or St. George branch, thanks to GPS technology.
Although the app will initially only be compatible with the Sony Smartwatch 2, the bank plans to expand its capabilities for use on other smartwatch devices "later in 2014", including Samsung and Pebble smartwatches. The bank has also been trialling an app for use on Google Glass.
Speaking about the app, St. George CIO Dhiren Kulkarni said it was a new step for the bank.
"The new smartwatch app will help to make banking quicker, easier and faster," he said. "Initially, we see the smartwatch app as a secondary device to a smartphone, allowing people to get quick information such as checking your account balance before making a purchase or getting directions to the nearest ATM."
St. George head of mobile Travis Tyler added that the app was "incredibly exciting".
"It's the start of a new wave of wearable technology," said Tyler. "For St. George, it's all about being in our customers' ecosystem and making sure we're able to deliver a fast and simple option for people to do their banking on a range of devices."
St. George customers with a Sony SmartWatch 2 can download the app from the Google Play store.