Co-op Bank offers cycle and dig for cash

The Co-operative Bank is giving prospective customers the chance to dig for treasure or cycle their way to a cash bonus when they open an account.

The Kiwi-owned bank has opened two interactive kiosks in Glenfield Mall and Sylvia Park.
Customers can dig in a sandpit to hunt for digitally projected bank deposit prizes at Glenfield, or cycle against the clock on a bike at Sylvia Park.

Customers can then collect their deposit of up to $30 when they open an account with the bank.

Chief executive David Cunningham said the kiosks had been designed to attract new customers and raise brand awareness.

"Thinking about what success looks like, for us it's about signing up lots and lots of customers and exposing our brand to lots of Auckland, and around the country, that haven't seen our brand," Cunningham said.

"Some of our branches maybe get 100,000 people walking past a year, Sylvia Park has close to 13 or 14 million, so it's about being in a high profile location and doing something different that really stands out."

Cunningham said the traditional money in, money out transaction model that bank branches previously operated had declined significantly over the years, to the point where some of the bank's branches were doing just one transaction an hour.

He said the Co-operative Bank had tried to completely change the way it viewed banking, looking to be more engaged with consumers.

"A lot of other banks around the world have put in money machines and coin counters and cheque readers and all of that into branches so you can do all of the money in, money out stuff yourself but our view is that's yesterday's world of banking," Cunningham said.

"The future world of banking is that there's none of that. It's going to be digital - either online or via mobile devices."

Cunningham said the intention was to be in the locations long term and to continue to plan new ways to engage customers.