Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Limited (OCBC Bank), the
In a breakthrough for the banking and financial industry of Southeast Asia, OCBC Bank has recently launched an AI-driven conversational banking assistant that’s designed to run in congruence with its mobile banking application that offers a personalized banking experience that can be accomplished through voice alone, without the need for text input or commands, for the majority of its capabilities and functions.
The conversational-driven AI banking assistant is the brainchild of Clinc, a fintech organization based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, America, and founded by a group of University of Michigan alumni and professors. It is renowned for designing conversational AI technologies for large firms and companies such as Barclays PLC and the United Services Automobile Association (USAA).
The use of conversational AI technologies in not new. Siri, Cortana and Alexa are now instantly recognizable features for anyone that has used a smartphone, PC or laptop with Windows OS, or Amazon smart devices. However, designing and creating a conversational AI specifically for banking assistance is a groundbreaking feat. Towards this end Clinc employs only the most innovative natural language processing engine and scientific discoveries within the AI space, as reported in a press release.
Emma Furlong, Clinc’s marketing director, added: “Clinc is continuing to go live with several virtual assistants at top financial institutions in the U.S., EMEA and APAC. We’re seeing fantastic user adoption when we get our solution in front of customers, and we’re excited to continue to drive engagement, improve customer experience and lower call center costs for the banks we’re working with.”
Many fintech companies have already designed and rolled out features or apps that aid in finance management, such as transferring funds, paying bills, reviewing transaction histories, or locating the nearest banking branch or ATM. What makes Clinc’s AI banking assistant stand out from the rest of the pack is that it is the first ever to make all of its capabilities and features be available through natural language voice or traditional text. Now users will be able to pay bills, transfer funds and check their spending history on command using only voice, while also having a smart AI banking assistant that can give advice and feedback on making better financial decisions like maintaining a more reasonable budget or improving on a damaged credit score.
Besides improving user experience with natural language voice, Clinc also has another goal of increasing the level of financial literacy for its users. The AI is capable of analyzing user spending history to determine trends and habits, and then give sound advice to its users based on its findings for making better informed financial decisions in the future.
Clinc chief executive officer Jason Mars said: “This is the first full production rollout of its kind. This is a milestone for Clinc, our partners at OCBC Bank and the financial industry as a whole.”