The bank will report on its accessibility and inclusion efforts annually
ANZ Bank New Zealand has announced its new Accessibility and Inclusion Plan, which sets out how the bank aims to drive and embed accessibility and inclusion across all aspects of its business, as well as its commitment to report annually on its accessibility and inclusion efforts.
Now expanded to have a specific focus on New Zealand, the plan outlined ANZ’s determination to actively consult people with disability in the design, development, testing, and implementation of banking solutions, empower team members to create accessible experiences for customers and team members, and ensure its customer digital channels are accessible and inclusive of all users.
“In New Zealand, one in four people identify as having a disability,” said Fiona Mackenzie, executive sponsor of accessibility for ANZ NZ. “Being a part of this plan is a public commitment from us to improving accessibility for both team members and customers. While we’ve always been focused on ensuring we’re an inclusive organization, we’re putting in place accessibility commitments that we’ll need to report back on, which holds us more accountable.”
Part of the bank’s approach, Mackenzie said, was reinvigorating the way it addresses accessibility.
“This means we’ll be working to ensure accessibility is a consideration in all aspects of the bank, including from how we design our physical workspaces and access to our branches and ATMs, to the technology our teams and customers use, through to how we recruit team members across the business,” she said. “To ensure we deliver on our aims, we’re creating a team of senior leaders across the bank to drive the changes we’re committing to.”
One initiative aims to give the bank’s senior leaders the skills to support team members with disability in reaching their growth and development goals.
Mackenzie said there would be an intensive focus on digital accessibility.
“Our latest initiative is the implementation of development tools which will test our digital platforms as we build them to ensure they are user-friendly,” she said. “For example, we recently launched Dark Mode for Go Money to make it easier to use for low-vision users. This investment also includes training for our technology team members on the benefits of accessible design, and how to successfully integrate this into a more inclusive experience for all users.”
For example, ANZ’s development team is working on dynamic font scaling for the bank’s customer platforms, to enable them to change font sizes for better readability based on customer need.
“We acknowledge this is not the panacea, and there’s always more we can be doing, but this set of commitments is a step towards becoming a more accessible and inclusive bank for New Zealanders,” Mackenzie said. “We’re committed to closing the gaps and improving outcomes for people with disability, both in our workplace and for our customers.”
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