Category: News

The Rise of Voice Banking

Voice banking is poised to have a significant impact on the future of banking. Incumbent banks, challengers, the tech giants, fintechs, and startups are already competing to attract and retain customers within their voice-powered ecosystems.

What is voice banking?

Voice banking is a process that provides a person with voice management for all everyday banking operations.

The winners in this latest financial services frontier will be those that leverage modern technology to realize the potential of voice payments technology..

Voice banking is evolving

Voice AI Bot with voice banking multiple channels, languages
Voice AI Bot

ING was among the first banks to introduce a voice control function to its app back in 2014, which used Nuance’s voice-recognition software to launch Inge, the assistant. Customers could also find the nearest branch and pay their contacts. Other banks quickly followed suit. Some chose to launch their proprietary digital assistants and chatbots, while others integrated their services with Siri, Google, and Alexa. 

Bank of America released their AI-empowered digital assistant called Erica in 2016 to facilitate voice payments. Eighteen months after launch, the platform attracted 10 million customers and handled 100 million requests from them. Erica can handle voice, text, and gesture commands to make transfers, list transactions, and provide guidance by analyzing consumer habits. 

Erica has successfully helped Bank of America gain insights into what their customers want from a voice banking assistant. Simultaneously, they used the data gathered from voice requests to personalize their digital services and provide a better banking experience. 

Capital One created a voice interaction service that uses Alexa to help consumers make credit card payments, check account balances, and get a snapshot of their spending habits. Barclays chose to integrate with Siri instead. The bank’s customers can pay existing payees or mobile contacts without opening the banking app or inputting passwords, immensely speeding pay simple transactions.

Venmo, Square Cash, and PayPal have also joined the ranks of financial companies that support voice payments. 

Research by Strategy& shows that voice banking technology can be applied across both the front and back office to free up line branch staff, reduce call center call volume, and minimize operations. By addressing these key points, banks could gain 15% to 35% in efficiency across the value chain. 

Source: https://sdk.finance/

More Details: https://zarss.com/voice-banking-ai.php

Binance Froze When Bitcoin Crashed. Now Users Want Their Money Back.

The world’s largest crypto exchange has no headquarters, making it difficult for disgruntled traders to complain about the May crash

Anand Singhal built up $50,000 in savings from the time he was 13 doing freelance coding from his bedroom in New Delhi. It was meant to pay for a dream—a master’s degree in computer science in the U.S. The money disappeared in seven minutes on May 19.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, froze for over an hour just as the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies plunged. Mr. Singhal and others, who had made leveraged bets on their rise, were locked out.

As losses steepened, the exchange seized their margin collateral and liquidated their holdings. Mr. Singhal said he lost his $50,000 plus $24,000 he had made in previous trades.

Binance traders around the world have been trying to get their money back. But unlike a more traditional investment platform, Binance is largely unregulated and has no headquarters, making it difficult, the traders say, to figure out whom to petition.

Mr. Singhal has joined a group of about 700 traders who are working with a lawyer in France to recoup their losses. In Italy, another group is petitioning Binance over the same issue. Lawyers representing the Italy group sent a letter to 11 Binance addresses they could find in Europe, and an email to the help desk.

A Binance spokesman said extreme market volatility, like on May 19, can create technical bottlenecks for it and other exchanges.

“We took immediate steps to engage with users affected by the outage,” and to provide compensation, the spokesman said. He added that “we remain happy to speak to anyone who reaches out to us with a concern about the outage.”

In an open letter published July 7, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said the exchange was committed to being compliant with appropriate local rules. But he has dismissed the idea of having a headquarters, saying it is an antiquated concept.

The price of bitcoin and other digital assets soared earlier this year, sparking a world-wide frenzy in trading. A huge chunk of that business flowed through Binance, which handled nearly $2.5 trillion in derivatives trades in May, according to data provider CryptoCompare. The subsequent crash in prices exposed the exchange’s inability at times to handle massive trading volume and has led to a backlash from users.

Authorities in Japan and the Cayman Islands have said Binance doesn’t have licenses to operate in those jurisdictions. The U.K. said Binance’s local unit wasn’t permitted to conduct operations related to regulated financial activities. Several British banks have stopped customers from transferring money to Binance.

Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/binance-froze-when-bitcoin-crashed-now-users-want-their-money-back-11626001202