Big Read: NZ's vanishing bank branches

As more people do online transactions, small towns must adapt to closures. Photo / David Haxton

Voice activated identification, paying for your coffee using an Apple watch or iPhone and reminders to let you know if you are on track saving for that future holiday are all on the cards for Kiwi banking customers.

Liz Maguire, head of digital and transformation at the ANZ says it is not just the problem of older people being left behind that the bank has to keep in mind but the challenge of keeping the new millennial generation happy too.

"We have got to think quite seriously about millennials."

Recently ANZ announced it is teaming up with Apple Pay in New Zealand, which will enable its customers to pay for items by waving their iPhone or Apple watch over contactless terminals.

The bank will be the first in New Zealand to offer this payment system, which has already taken off in Australia.

"Mobile payments are going to be a massive change to the world."

She says banking will also become much more personalised in the future.

Instead of relying on customers to shop around for different products it may be your mobile app which suggests you try putting your savings in a different account to get a better rate or tells you how to do something better with your money which might have been what your banker would have done in the past.

Liz Maguire head of digital and transformation at the ANZ says it is trying to keep up with what millennials want. Photo / Supplied

The bank is also looking at biometric security measures using voice recognition technology that would allow people to access their accounts by speaking.

This could allow people to tell their phone to make a payment or transfer money to another account.

Stephen Bowe, head of digital at the BNZ, says banking has been quite retrospective but it will be more about helping people do better with their money into the future.

That could mean showing someone how much they can reduce the time it takes to pay off their mortgage by making extra payments to telling them if they are on track to reach a savings goal by a certain time.

BNZ is trialling allowing people to increase their mortgage payments themselves and results have been positive so far with many people choosing to shave the amount of time it will take to pay back their loan, he says.

Already banking apps are expanding into the wider financial eco-system - you can use the BNZ one to top up your mobile phone and pay your TradeMe account.

Bowe believes technology needs to be tailored to what customers want to use it for.

For mobiles that means doing banking on the go.

He says people don't necessarily want to do complex transactions through that.

"Mobile is more about helping customers to manage their money better".

Bowe says it has become like an arms race to have the latest widget for digital banking but he would rather people get the best out of the widget.

But Mark Rushworth, chief executive of electronic payments company Paymark, believes banks could be doing more to keep pace with what the younger generation wants.

"Young kids use mobile phones all the time and they want to transact using them."

You still need a plastic card linked to a mobile phone at the moment.

Banks haven't found a way to make money from letting people transfer funds instantly using mobiles yet, he says.

What can we expect to see in the future?

• Mobile voice commands - tell you mobile to pay a bill while driving home from work

• Biometrics - another layer of security which uses your unique voice pattern to identify you

• Much faster services like credit card cancellations and replacement when lost or stolen.

• personalised services based on data - your phone will tell you how to pay off your mortgage faster or whether you are on track to reach your savings goal.

• By the end of November all banks will have to ensure all electronic payments are cleared funds making transactions much faster.