More CUs Giving a Shout Out to Voice Banking
According to research, 20% of households with Wi-Fi own at least one smart speaker as of February of this year.
In recent days, Abilene, Texas-based First Abilene Credit Union and Westbury, New York-based NEFCU both announced launches of voice-based banking functions that work on Amazon Alexa and Google smart speaker devices.
In addition, Sunnyvale, California-based technology design firm Conversation.one highlighted growing competition among developers with its announcement on June 13 that it is partnering with Amazon Alexa to help small and medium-size financial institutions build and launch their own Alexa skills.
“This is the latest leap in our journey to be the most innovative and technology-driven credit union on Long Island,” NEFCU CIO Jojo Seva said in an announcement. “We’ve evolved our offerings to be much more digitally-driven, and now we’ve begun exploring the great opportunities afforded by artificial intelligence and other new and exciting breakthroughs. This is all about creating a more convenient, secure and technologically advanced experience for our members.”
First Abilene has about 11,000 members and $73 million in assets; NEFCU has about 185,000 members and $3 billion in assets.
For credit unions and other financial institutions, offering voice-based functionality typically allows members who own smart speakers to use their voices to access or manage their accounts and even do simple transactions. Members get the functionality by installing a credit union’s “skill” or “action” on their smart speakers. Those skills are often designed with the help of firms such as Conversation.one.
“Banks and CUs are struggling against fintech companies and social networks. Money is being shifted from traditional organizations to the new mediums”, CEO Chen Levkovich said. “Conversation.one’s seamless conversational solution allows banks and CUs to finally fight back.”
Development in the voice area of the technology world is indeed growing rapidly. A whopping 20% of households, with Wi-Fi, owned at least one smart speaker as of February, according to consumer research firm comScore. In addition, the number of Alexa skills available for install has skyrocketed from 10,000 in February 2017 to a reported 30,000+ as of late March of this year.
Credit unions have been aware of the voice trend for some time, however.
Back in November, Oak Ridge, Tennessee-based Enrichment Federal Credit Union became one of the first credit unions to roll out voice technology to members. It used technology called Financial Interaction Voice Experience (FIVE), which is a banking skill platform designed by Best Innovation Group, a Tampa, Fla.-based technology think tank founded by former Wescom Credit Union Chief Technology Officer John Best.
Last March, Spokane Valley, Wash.-based Numerica Credit Union, which has $2.1 billion in assets and about 140,000 members, announced that Amazon certified its Alexa voice skill as well. That credit union, which serves Washington and Idaho, rolled out the skill to its 137,000 members via Best Innovation Group’s partnership with Symitar for the Financial Innovations Voice Experience platform.