Copyright licences support premium business governance

November 4, 2019

Co-Founder and CEO of Volt Bank, Steve Weston, discusses governance in what is, arguably, a new era in financial services.

In January this year, Volt Bank was granted a full banking licence – the first digital ‘challenger’ bank to do so. This is one of a number of governance measures (such as securing a copyright licence) the bank has to undertake. When do you expect Volt Bank to begin trading?

“We have our first product (a savings account) in staff testing. Once staff testing is completed, we will offer the product to our growing waitlist for beta testing before launching to the public later in the year. By this time next year, we will have launched our full range of consumer deposit and loan products before moving into the SME space in 2021.”

Volt Bank will operate as a digital app – with added extras – can you spell out what you’ll be offering customers that will create a point of difference?

“Our point of difference will be making our promise, of helping Australians to be better off, a reality. It makes sense that this starts with helping customers to save. Our savings account will offer a competitive interest rate with none of the catches (introductory rates, penalties for withdrawing, not saving) that most savings accounts have. A savings account doesn’t actually help you save, so we’ll work with customers to motivate them to save regularly, providing help and guidance through nudges, feedback and education.”

In the volatile banking sector, there are numerous opportunities opening up for new players, how will you build trust in your brand?

“We believe, particularly in light of the last 12 months, customers are crying out for transparency and trustworthiness. With this in mind, we will build our brand by being upfront, honest and always striving to understand our customers. And by understand, I mean, not just what banking products they need, but where they want to go in life and how we can help get them there.”

One of the things banks have come under fire for is the poor culture they perpetuate. How will you set the culture at Volt Bank?

“Culture is set from the top. It starts with the board and executive team setting the standard internally. This involves encouraging the team to live our values, while also creating an environment where they can do their best every day. It is important that this culture flows into how we work with our customers. Our vision is to help people be better off. Keeping that front of mind in everything we do, and all the decisions we make, will be central to setting and maintaining a culture we can be proud of.”

As one of your governance measures, you’ve purchased a Copyright Agency licence to cover your reuse and storage of copyright material throughout the business. Why have you taken the licence and what do you see as the benefits?

“Whilst we are a start-up, we do have lofty goals – ones that can only be reached by establishing solid governance foundations, from the start. A Copyright Agency licence is part of that. It means we know that in the fast-moving, content-hungry news cycle that we operate in, we can easily share our media coverage and other items, and know we are doing right by the original content producers and publishers.

“It also means our employees can share articles with one another and don’t need to pause and consider whether they are breaching any laws. We can also store articles on our devices, desktops and servers for future reuse.

“As a business leader, a copyright licence gives me piece of mind, but more importantly, it ensures publishers are being rewarded for their content.”

The Copyright Agency has produced a 20-page Copyright Governance Risk and Compliance Guide. To find out more about buying a copyright licence for your business, contact Senior Licensing Consultant, Lisa Hill on 02 9394 7746 or lhill@copyright.com.au.

This article, sponsored by Copyright Agency, was first published in the November 2019 edition of
AB + F (Australian Banking and Finance) Magazine.