Up, also known as Up Bank and Up Banking, is an Australian neobank based in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 2018, the bank is a collaboration between software development company Ferocia and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. 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.
History
Originally named Alt, 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 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 2000 students signing up for their early beta phase. The bank then announced on 28 March 2018 that it would support Apple Pay, Google Pay, Fitbit Pay and Garmin Pay at launch. On 13 May 2018 the bank started its friends and family beta phase with a closed beta release on 2 August 2018. Siri integration was then pushed out to beta users on 25 August 2018. 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 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. Bank transfers via the New Payments Platform were then enabled on 21 November 2018 to a small group of users before having a full rollout on 13 December 2018. Up announced a new interest rate to their savings accounts titled as Savers on 27 December 2018. 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. 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. 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. 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. On 12 June 2019 the bank announced that they had reached 100,000 customers 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. Up then qualified and won "Digital Disrupter of the Year", "Best Tech Innovation" and "Best Banking Innovation" awards from the annual Finder Awards. Scheduled and repeated payments as well as a new Salary Identification feature were then released on 10 September 2019. 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. 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 and announced features such as salary splitting, released on the same day and transactional-saving covering. By February 2020 they had grown to over 185,000 customers.
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. 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.
