THE FUTURE OF FINANCIAL SERVICES EMERGES: ANOTHER CHATBOT BECOMES AN ADVISOR AND SELLER OF PERSONAL

The Malaysian RHB Banking Group has launched a chatbot via the RinggitPlus comparison website.

The chatbot is a blend of an “advisor” and “salesperson” for consumers applying for a personal loan. During the conversation the chatbot co-ordinates all the necessary information and communicates eligibility via SMS.  

The RHB Banking Group targeted outcome is to grow their personal loan business through the RinggitPlus channel by 60%.

Here are some insights from this announcement:

1.  RHB Banking Group starts to strategically use chatbots as a way to fundamentally change customer engagement (read “The Customer Engagement Revolution in Financial Services is Underway” https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/14475/the-customer-engagement-revolution-in-financial-services-is-underway).

2.  Their chatbot as “advisor” and “seller” is not influenced by commission payments and therefore the risk of misselling is potentially obliterated, subject to sufficient check and balances in place (read “Chatbots will Revolutionise and Protect against the Misselling of Financial Products” https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/14456/chatbots-will-revolutionise-and-protect-against-the-misselling-of-financial-products).

3.  RHB Banking Group amongst other early adopters provide the early signals of validation that 32% of financial and insurance sector is likely to adopt AI automation (read “The AI and Chatbots for Financial Services Leadership” https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/14419/the-ai-and-chatbot-opportunities-for-financial-services-leadership).

4.  Their chatbot conversation is via a Conversational User Interface, which means this single chatbot could be accessed via all other digital channels, including voice and supported by real-time language translation. The speed going from one channel to an omni-channel strategy is a relatively small and inexpensive step through hubs (read “Chatbot Market Trends and Insights to the power of Conversation User Interfaces” https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/14393/chatbot-market-trends-and-insights-to-the-power-of-conversational-user-interfaces).

5.  RHB Banking Group have not automated the whole process otherwise the eligibility could be determined during the chatbot conversation. It maybe the bank has decided to have a manual check and balance, whilst they determine whether there are any exposures such as can be experienced through machine learning (read “The Need to Mitigate Socioeconomic Risks and Negative Impacts for Artificial Intelligence” https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/14443/the-need-to-mitigate-socioeconomic-risks-and-negative-impacts-for-artificial-intelligence).

6.  RHB Banking Group will need to store the chatbot conversation as part of the regulatory remit (read “Regulations is the biggest Knowledge Management opportunity for chatbots” https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/14377/regulations-is-the-biggest-knowledge-management-opportunity-for-chatbots).

The use of chatbots that can blend the three types of artificial conversation (natural language, single question, single answer and decision-tree scripts) and orchestrate collecting, processing and output data is a game changer in productivity (read “We need fresh ideas for rethinking productivity” https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/14528/we-need-fresh-ideas-for-rethinking-productivity).

Financial Services needs to be at the forefront for this change.

Why?

Not only to transform itself, but it needs to understand the credit, investment and risk factors for its customers including every government, industry and practice. In essence, every organisation is going to change towards a blended workforce of people and chatbots. It will turn the whole organisation from inside to an outside focus with the ability to sense early and respond quickly to continuous change. The implications are profound.