Bank Millennium without barriers

The “Website without Barriers” competition organised by Fundacja Widzialni and Szerokie Porozumienie na Rzecz Umiejętności Cyfrowych is the only such initiative in Poland. It aims to promote deliberate development of websites in order to counteract discrimination in access to information.

- Counteracting digital exclusion due to age, health or financial status has been appearing of late as an important factor in public debate. Eliminating digital, infrastructural and physical barriers in access to services is also an important part of Bank Millennium’s strategy. We want to be a bank without barriers and winning the “Website without Barriers” competition confirms our effectiveness in eliminating digital obstacles in access to our products – Halina Karpińska, Director in the Electronic Banking Department of Bank Millennium, said.

Bank Millennium has for years been implementing solutions improving availability of services for persons with disabilities. Websites use simple and easy-to-understand language and can be read by Text-to-Speech apps. Blind or visually impaired persons can use the website by using a keyboard only – no mouse is needed. The website uses a text magnifier and can also be read in high contrast mode. You can logon to the mobile app with a fingerprint and use the same way to authorise online card payments. Thanks to compatibility with services allowing information to be presented with use of speech the mobile app is adapted to the needs of blind or visually impaired persons.

Improvement of availability of the website, the online transactional system and mobile app is one of many actions allowing all groups of customers to use the services. Other improvements introduced by the bank include

• Adapting ATMs, telephone service and the method of signing agreements to the needs of persons with visual and motor impairments
• Assuring access to branches for persons with motoric disabilities and
• Introduction of standards of service for disabled persons

Currently more than 90% branches and 100% ATMs of Bank Millennium are adapted to the needs of persons with disabilities, while over 100 branches are equipped with sitting-down customer service desks with wheelchair access.

At the same time the bank is introducing innovations, which make customers’ lives easier – they can use internet banking to securely and conveniently submit applications in the Family 500+ programme and use e-administration services; pay with a phone by means of the mobile app – with virtual cards or by BLIK; buy city transport tickets or get car insurance by scanning the Aztec graphic code from the car’s registration certificate. Additionally the bank’s experts take part in joint initiatives of the entire banking sector. These activities have resulted i.a. in development of “Best Practice in Serving Persons with Disabilities by Banks”.

The award for Bank Millennium in the category of “Non-public Website over 100 Sub-pages” was collected by Halina Karpińska, Director in the Electronic Banking Department. Results of the “Website without Barriers” competition were announced in the Sejm of the Republic of Poland during the “Digital Inclusion – Accessible Poland”. Honorary sponsorship over the conference was assumed by the Ministry of Digitalisation, Ministry of Investment and Economic Development, Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Ministry of National Education, Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy, State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons, Polish Association of the Deaf and the Polish Bank Association.

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