EXCLUSIVE— While the debate over whether #cryptocurrencies are actually currencies, #securities, or somehow a mix of the two drags on, there’s another question crypto enthusiasts should ask: does it #matter? The question of whether to consider cryptos securities flared to life again last week, after former U.S. regulator Gary Gensler noted that in his mind, […]
Bank Innovation
EXCLUSIVE- The genesis of #Bill.com, a cloud-based cash flow management software for SMBs, came to #René #Lacerte when he was still leading his digital payroll services company PayCycle. “Payroll and B2B payments is a huge painpoint for small and medium sized businesses,” Lacerte told Bank Innovation. “The idea behind creating a Bill.com was to address […]
Bank Innovation
#Security and fraud risk remain the top priority for retail #banks seeking to update their #payments infrastructure, a study released this week by ACI WorldWide and Ovum found. The security and privacy of consumer data have remained top concerns for financial service as #technology companies like Facebook and Google come under fire for potential misuse […]
Bank Innovation
The number of consumers making use of #Apple’s mobile payment service is increasing, but are these #users really, well, using it? The company #more than doubled the users for its namesake payment service, Apple Pay, according to CEO Tim Cook on the company’s second quarter earnings call yesterday. This year-over-year increase is part of the […]
Bank Innovation
#Square made a splash when it announced it would sell #bitcoin in its Cash app, but failed to make much money doing so, it was revealed yesterday. But working with the #cryptocurrency taught the payments company quite a bit #about #blockchain #technology, and how it ends up employing that knowledge may be the true payoff […]
Bank Innovation
RBS #uses data #analytics to develop a Net Promoter Systems — shades of Vernon Hill of Commerce Bank and Metro Bank fame! They seem to have messaging right since customers are accepting their messages on mobiles.
Financial Technology
With global #remittances expected to grow by more than 4% this year, providers are utilizing mobile and other digital technologies to ensure sending money between countries is easier than ever. China, the world’s most populous country, has citizens all over the world, and huge amounts of money are flowing back and forth, which should make […]
Bank Innovation
As part of our guest blog series, Accenture Nordic Banking Practice Lead Satu Pulkkinen explores how banks can take the next step in evolving customer relations.
First came online and mobile banks, with Nordic banks leading the way. The next wave of digital banking? The conversational bank that operates within messaging applications. #Technology that can see and hear us, continuously growing ecosystems around increasingly popular messaging applications, as well as the amazing progress of artificial intelligence (AI), are enabling personalized, fully digital banking assistants that you can #talk to anytime, anyplace.
Technology is an integral part of our daily lives. Increasingly, devices that used to simply respond to our commands and actions can now also hear and see us. We use mobile applications for almost everything, especially instant messaging. Since the beginning of 2015, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat and WeChat have become the world&8217;s most used social media applications.
Over 60 percent of customers prefer messaging applications over email or phone calls. And we are moving on from using several different mobile applications to services that are integrated within ecosystems of those applications.
The development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, like machine learning and deep learning, has progressed at such a pace that the chatbots many Nordic banks use today are already starting to look outdated. As AI technologies continue to mature, bots will become even more human-like.
The increased volume of data and number of analytic tools create the possibility of offering individualized digital services on a mass scale. This has already led us as customers to expect each digital interaction to be as good as our best last experience—regardless of the brand or industry in question.
Conversational banking exploits these technology trends in an intelligent way. Banking bots within messaging applications and virtual assistants (like Apple’s Siri or Google Assistant) connect cost savings brought by the previous generation’s online and mobile banks, with the personal touch previously provided by bank clerks.
What is behind all this progress? Talking is natural for people. Complex language and communication separate humans from other animal species. Stories form the cornerstones of civilizations. Talking is, therefore, genetically encoded in all of us.
In much the same way, messaging applications are natural to current mobile devices. These applications are easy and fun—and effortless to use, even on the move. We can type or speak and we can hold one- or two-way, personal or group conversations.
Therefore, brands have rushed to embrace messaging applications. For example, Facebook Messenger has over 33,000 bots offering customer assistance and counseling as well as providing interactive experiences. And we seem to like them: over 60 percent of consumers use messaging applications to communicate with brands.
For example, in the future, a bank bot could interact like this: “Hi Satu! I noticed that there’s €100 left over in your bank account. Should we put it in a fund that matches your expected return by only investing in environmentally friendly companies?´´
Capital One in the US is one of the first financial institutions to move into conversational banking. It offers its customers an opportunity to check their account balances or pay bills just by talking with Amazon&8217;s Alexa—and without once touching a device. The customer just has to link his or her bank account to an Echo device. Once that’s set up, the bank literally obeys the customer’s voice.
Now it’s time for Nordic banks to move on from online and mobile banking and start talking to customers. Who will be the first?
Satu Pulkkinen, Nordic Banking Practice lead at Accenture
The post Banks: We need to talk appeared first on Accenture Banking Blog.
#Crowdfunding is on the rise. A recent report by Statista #Digital Market Outlook shows that by 2022, crowdfunding #could grow to $ 57 billion globally, with China being the leader in this area. To put the number in perspective, in 2017 $ 14.5 billion was raised by crowdfunding. So, $ 57 billion in a span of four years would […]
Bank Innovation
The leading #banks in the U.S. have a larger share of deposits than before the financial crisis, and they grow big an profitable by avoiding the poor, according to “How the Other #Half Banks”, an excellent overview of the lack of finance facing many Americans.
Financial Technology
Reply