Westpac Accelerates Equipment Finance Deals While Reducing Portfolio Risk

Exari™ reduced Westpac’s loan approval response times from days to minutes through vastly improved document assembly and external workflow.

"Time is of the essence for the majority of customers. As documents for non-complex deals are now system-generated, the lengthy hand-over process has been eliminated, improving Westpac’s customer response time ten-fold".

Emily Zilic, Business Development Manager, Westpac

As anyone who's ever tried to take out a commercial loan will tell you, "fast" is not a word that you would associate with the process. But speeding things up is often equated with increasing portfolio risk due to errors and omissions. Not for Westpac Bank, thanks to Exari automated document assembly.

Exari worked with Westpac's Equipment Finance division to develop WorkFAST, an Exari-powered online system that reduces loan approval time by:

• Capturing customer information in a centralized contract repository;
• Streamlining the credit scoring and approval process
• Enabling workflow collaboration throughout the enterprise; and
• Automatically generating the complete suite of customer documents for 80% of Westpac’s commercial equipment loan business.

Exari™ provides the solution

For managers, Exari’s patented contract lifecycle management solution has enabled Westpac to become a more competitive force in the Australian market. According to Emily Zilic, WorkFAST Project Manager, "Westpac customers are receiving more competitive turnaround times for credit decisions, document preparation and issuing, and employees now have more time to work on new business."

Because Exari captures all loan origination information as “data”, downstream legacy systems and databases now have a complete record of all information in Westpac’s loan portfolio. The additional transparency equals decreased portfolio risk. All levels of management can now get the reporting and visibility they need to do their jobs better.

Customers appreciate the faster service

"New and repeat customers are impressed with faster turn-around times and the easier-to-read paper work," says Westpac’s Zilic.

Employees are more productive

Lily Grinberg, a Business Lending Manager in Westpac Sales and Support said stakeholders love the new user-friendly system. "Now, credit decisions can be made in about 30 minutes, rather than what used to be a 48-hour turnaround, and deals can be compiled, decisioned and documented in hours rather than days." According to Lily, WorkFAST has provided opportunities for Westpac to write more business and created happier customers, thanks to a speedier, more efficient online system. Best of all, the overall quality and compliance of Westpac’s operations has improved and Exari helps ensure that best practices are being used for every transaction.

Profile: One of Australia’s 10 largest companies, Westpac provides banking and financial services to over seven million customers.