Banking Review

CBA provides online business car loans

Online applications for business to business financial service products are few and far between in the current market. This may be about to change with the launch of the new online business vehicle finance service being offered by the Commonwealth Bank.

The online system provides conditional approval for new cars and demonstrators less than 12 months old in less than 10 minutes. Vehicles finance ranging from $15,000 to $100,000 in value can be provided via the online system. Vehicles must be purchased from a franchised motor dealership to qualify for the online finance option.

The service, the first of its type in Australia, performs an automatic credit check with the Veda credit bureau as a part of the application.

“The service provides finance quotes and conditional approvals for hire purchase, equipment finance and novated leases for business customers,” Andrew Watson, General Manager of Asset Financial told Online Banking Review. “The aim is to make purchasing a vehicle quick and easy for business customers.”

Many financial services product applications are available online. The success of online distribution is attributable to both the complexity of the product and the customer experience of the process. Business vehicle finance can be complex. However the customer experience elements learned from the transition of personal financial services product applications are still highly relevant.

It is disappointing that the CBA business vehicle finance tool has not followed the fundamentals of customer focused design and usability. Everything from navigation within the dedicated car finance site through to filling in the quote form pose usability issues. The placement and operation of some elements on the form and the preceding pages are counter-intuitive.
Usability issues for business lending are not unique to CBA. ANZ business car finance provides links to apply online yet the form clearly states that it is for loans for personal vehicles only.

After searching the NAB site with various terms, only ‘equipment finance’ returned relevant results. Westpac equipment finance however, does meet the mark for usability and can be easily found within the site. Applications are taken online but require one business day of processing.

How can the online channel have come so far for personal financial services and yet business banking has been left behind? Credit cards, car insurance and home insurance quotes and applications have led the development of the internet as a significant distribution channel. Ignoring the lessons learned from the integration of personal products into the online environment will leave any product new to this channel to flounder.

Business customers will migrate to the online channel for their financial services needs if it is effective, easy and simple to use. Their expectations will however, most likely already have been shaped by their experience as personal banking customers.

Failing to deliver an elegant customer experience to business customers will impact the success of any foray into online business banking services.

What will it take to get business customers embrace online applications and quoting services?