SBS held its annual meeting in Invercargill yesterday.
Speaking to the Otago Daily Times before the meeting, Mr Drylie said SBS had decided to go with open architecture software, allowing the bank to quickly plug in added services.
Millennials, or Gen Y, were categorised as those aged between 18 and 36. They made up 34% of the workforce and wanted to know more about the background of the services they were using.
Younger customers were relating to the Invercargill-based and customer-owned bank which started off as a building society, he said.
However, good technology was important to them. By using open architecture, SBS could adapt quickly to customer needs.
''Other banks won't use open architecture because they want to build it themselves. We can tap into developers a lot faster to get the services we need.''
Mr Drylie was confident the bank would continue to grow because of its Southland links and its social investment policy.
He sensed a discourse in New Zealand about the Australian ownership of major banks.
He believed the banks were doing the rational things well but that they were not connecting with customers.
The Australian banks were taking profits back to Australia and were not connecting with their communities, he said.
''Our story is about members owning us; we provide authentic services and don't have to deliver returns overseas.''
SBS invested back into the community, he said.
Looking ahead, Mr Drylie acknowledged banking was competitive and low interest rates meant tight margins. Although the bank was in a good financial position, future success for SBS would involve growing as a group.
There were 75,000 members of SBS but 200,000 customers of its banking, KiwiSaver, insurance and consumer finance businesses.
''We will continue lending across the board, focusing on safe residential lending. We don't have to take 20% of the market. Two or three percent is enough for us.''
Even with house prices in some areas falling, Mr Drylie was confident SBS would continue its lending growth.
The ''Welcome Home'' product gave first-home buyers a chance to get into the housing market. The scheme had government backing.
Different parts of the country were doing better than others.
Dunedin, Central Otago and Nelson, along with provincial New Zealand, was ''going well'', he said.
SBS was considering launching a credit card into the market, the main product it was not so far offering. A debit card was available for online shopping, but a credit card could be the next product to be offered, Mr Drylie said.
