Dubai government-owned Emirates NBD has announced plans to use Voice Banking solutions provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide banking updates, track spends and enable its customers in the UAE to listen to daily market briefings on Amazon Alexa devices.
Emirates NBD said that Amazon Alexa facilitates its customers to know their account and credit card balances, as well as the details of their recent transactions from the comfort of their home or office using conversational language through an Amazon Echo smart speaker.
In addition, the service can also be used while moving, through Amazon Alexa-enabled headsets or the mobile phone using the Amazon Alexa App.
Emirates NBD senior executive vice-president and retail banking and wealth management group head Suvo Sarkar said: “Emirates NBD has always been at the forefront of banking innovations and Voice Banking is another step in this direction as we utilize new technologies to enhance overall customer experiences.
“Customers are increasingly looking to connect with banks using natural speech as it provides significantly enhanced convenience and our introduction of Voice Banking is a step towards building an AI based conversational ecosystem for our customers across all touch points.”
Customers can start the service just by saying ‘Alexa, open Emirates NBD’
Emirates NBD and AWS announced their collaboration earlier this year to leverage AWS’ artificial intelligence, natural language processing and other technologies, along with cloud computing services. The new service is based on Emirates NBD and AWS partnership.
The bank has conducted the ‘Better Together’ programme and selected patrons to assist with developing and beta testing of the Emirates NBD Voice Banking service.
The new Voice Banking service is designed to use Application Program Interfaces (APIs) created in line with established open banking standards and facilitates the exchange of financial information while maintaining strict guidelines of security and privacy for users.
Emirates NBD said that it will also provide a daily curated summary of investment-related news and global market updates from its Chief Investment Officer through its new service.
Furthermore, customers will be able to obtain information on signing up for new products, including loan or card instalment plan, along with other general programmes and initiatives the bank is involved in.
