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Voice banking is coming to the forefront as the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and USAA both try the relatively new technology, according to Finextra.
- RBC is adding payments functionality to its app. The new feature will give customers the ability to pay bills on their iPhone or iPad via Apple’s voice assistant, Siri. After a user voices the command, the RBC app will debit their account and send the payment, which is protected by TouchID.
- USAA is leveraging Alexa and conversational AI to enhance its customers’ experiences with voice banking. The bank is piloting an integration between Alexa and start-up Clinc’s conversational AI platform to offer users a more personal experience. Beyond checking balances and performing other basic banking functions, users can also dig deeper into their spending habits — they can ask about their spending based on location or date, for example.
As early adopters of voice technology, both banks could be well positioned to boost engagement among an increasingly tech-reliant customer base.
- Banking customers continue to embrace digital channels for their banking activities. The number of Chase’s mobile banking customers, for example, increased 14% YoY to reach 28.4 million, according to the bank’s earnings presentation. And Wells Fargo reported that, in May 2017, its 20.4 million mobile active users surpassed the number of its desktop users for the first time. Not only are these customers adopting these digital channels, but they’re engaged with them as well — in Q1 2017, Bank of America mobile deposits increased for the fourth straight quarter, and they now represent 1 in 5 deposits.
- Although voice technology still has low usage, it will be the next banking channel to take off. Today, only 2% of respondents in BI Intelligence’s April 2017 survey had used their voice to pay bills, and only 1% transferred money to a friend, through any type of device. However, use of voice payments will nearly quadruple over the next five years to reach 31% of US adults — or 81 million consumers — by 2022, BI Intelligence estimates.
Dan Van Dyke, senior research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on voice payments that:
- Shares current and projected adoption of voice payments.
- Outlines voice payments and banking integrations on the market.
- Examines growth drivers and barriers to consumers’ voice payments adoption.
- Provides strategies for successfully deploying voice interfaces.
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