Citigroup Inc said it's set to be the first major bank in Asia to roll out voice recognition technology to its retail customers, part of a move to upgrade its Internet and mobile banking offering across the region.
The New York-based bank plans to have at least 1 million Asian users of the technology within the next 12 months, doing away with cumbersome passwords and speeding up transactions such as money transfers, bill payments and checks on account balances, according to Anand Selvakesari, Citigroup's Singapore-based consumer banking head for Asia Pacific.
"One of the frustrating points for the client is remembering the password and being asked questions multiple times over," Mr Selvakesari, 49, said in an interview last week.
The growth of Internet and mobile banking means that about 95% of Citigroup's retail banking transactions in the region take place outside the branch network, Mr Selvakesari said.
The US firm reduced the number of branches in Asia by 9% to 481 in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to a statement in April. At the same time, it added about 1 million new digital banking clients, said James Griffiths, the bank's Hong Kong-based spokesman.
Asia contributed about 21% of the group's global consumer banking business by revenue, Citigroup said in the statement.
Mr Selvakesari said Citigroup will roll out the voice recognition technology in Singapore first, followed by Australia, Hong Kong, India and Taiwan over the next few months.
Those markets have the highest proportion of digital banking usage in the region, ranging from 40% to 60%, Mr Griffiths said.
The new technology will allow Citigroup's Asian customer service division, which receives about 35 million customer calls every year, to cut the average time it takes to validate a client's identity over the phone to 15 seconds, from 45 seconds previously, Mr Selvakesari said.
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The New York-based bank plans to have at least 1 million Asian users of the technology within the next 12 months, doing away with cumbersome passwords and speeding up transactions such as money transfers, bill payments and checks on account balances, according to Anand Selvakesari, Citigroup's Singapore-based consumer banking head for Asia Pacific.
"One of the frustrating points for the client is remembering the password and being asked questions multiple times over," Mr Selvakesari, 49, said in an interview last week.
The growth of Internet and mobile banking means that about 95% of Citigroup's retail banking transactions in the region take place outside the branch network, Mr Selvakesari said.
The US firm reduced the number of branches in Asia by 9% to 481 in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to a statement in April. At the same time, it added about 1 million new digital banking clients, said James Griffiths, the bank's Hong Kong-based spokesman.
Asia contributed about 21% of the group's global consumer banking business by revenue, Citigroup said in the statement.
Mr Selvakesari said Citigroup will roll out the voice recognition technology in Singapore first, followed by Australia, Hong Kong, India and Taiwan over the next few months.
Those markets have the highest proportion of digital banking usage in the region, ranging from 40% to 60%, Mr Griffiths said.
The new technology will allow Citigroup's Asian customer service division, which receives about 35 million customer calls every year, to cut the average time it takes to validate a client's identity over the phone to 15 seconds, from 45 seconds previously, Mr Selvakesari said.
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