One of Australia’s biggest banks unveils major changes to its credit cards – and it will help thousands of Aussies manage their money
- Big change in bank cards to make them more accessible
- ‘Simple but impactful’ design changes will help the blind
One of Australia’s largest banks has unveiled a major update to its credit and debit cards aimed at helping an underprivileged group manage their money.
Westpac has updated its bank cards with “simple but impactful” changes to make them more accessible to blind and partially sighted customers.
The new designs on credit, debit and prepaid cards have a number of accessibility elements, most notably several notches along the short edge of the card to distinguish them from each other.
The notches – square for credit card, round for debit card and triangular for prepaid card – also help customers with vision problems determine which end of the card to insert into machines.
Each card also includes a braille marker to further distinguish them.
The new designs on credit, debit and prepaid cards have different notches along the short side of the card to distinguish them from each other
Westpac has updated its bank cards to make them more accessible to blind and partially sighted customers. In the photo, a woman walks with a guide dog
The new range of card designs will gradually be rolled out to customers.
There are approximately 575,000 visually impaired people in Australia, of whom 60,000 are permanently blind.
Westpac’s chief brand and marketing officer Annabel Fribence said the cards would “make payments easier for everyone.”
“The features of the new cards are a simple yet innovative step forward that will make a big difference to the daily lives of many blind or partially sighted Australians,” she said.
‘Our strategy is to continue to develop products and services that are accessible to all customers.
“This builds on a series of initiatives we already have in place, such as accessibility mode on all our EFTPOS Now terminals, online applications that meet accessibility requirements and accessible digital card functionality when customers use voiceover and talk back,” said Ms. Fribence.
She added that it’s important to make payments easier for everyone
Westpac has said it’s important to make using its services easier for everyone to use. A woman is depicted using an ATM
“Now all Westpac customers can identify their payment cards by sight or touch.”
According to Blind Citizens Australia CEO Sally Aurisch, the new card is a ‘simple but impactful’ measure for people with visual impairments.
“Measures like this allow customers who are blind or visually impaired to gain that extra bit of confidence and independence when they step up to the checkout counter,” she said.
“It’s encouraging to see such innovative features being used to make accessibility a priority.”