Finextra Research: Latest fintech news, analysis, interviews, features and opinion by industry experts

Bank of Ireland to equip call centres with single customer view and voice biometrics

Bank of Ireland is spending €34 million to overhaul its call centre operations, providing operators with a single customer view and introducing voice biometrics for added security.

01 May 2024

News/retail

Westpac announces multibillion tech upgrade

Australian bank Westpac is planning to spend billions of dollars over the next four years to simplify its technology infrastructure.

28 March 2024

News/retail

VTB trials voice assistant that can predict client demands

Russia's VTB is anticipating a 30% uplift in call centre automation following the introduction of a voice assistant that can anticipate client demands.

21 February 2022

News/retail

BBVA launches digital retail bank in Italy

Spanish giant BBVA is making a push into the Italian retail banking market with the launch of a digital-only service.

22 October 2021

News/retail

Westpac rolls back offshore outsourcing for customer facing contact roles

Westpac has brough over 1000 jobs back to Australia following a commitment in 2020 to roll back offshoring of customer facing contact roles.

27 August 2021

News/security

Call centre data security firm Semafone scores majority investment

Call centre data security and compliance specialist Semafone has secured a majority investment from PE firm Livingbridge. Terms were not disclosed.

29 June 2021

News/startups

CaixaBank taps into European Innovation Council network of startups

Spain's CaixaBank has signed on to the European Innovation Council (EIC) Corporate Partnership programme, working with a handful of startups on joint projects.

18 May 2021

News/security

HSBC's Voice ID prevents £249 million of attempted fraud

HSBC's caller identification programme Voice ID has cut telephone banking fraud by over 50% during the past year, demonstrating the value of biometric verification in the fight against scammers.

05 May 2021

News/payments

Santander launches digital cash management service

Santander has teamed up with Prosegur Cash to launch an in-store digital cash management service in Spain that puts the notes and coins merchants accept straight into their bank accounts.

20 April 2021

News/retail

HSBC to move 1200 UK call centre staff to permanent home working

HSBC is to move 1200 of its call centre staff to permanent working from home contracts, Reuters reports.

07 April 2021

News/cloud

HSBC taps Google Cloud for call centre AI

HSBC has enlisted Google Cloud to build a global call centre AI chatbot that helps employees cut down on the time they spend on manually intensive queries.

12 March 2021

News/security

Police and banks to extend fraud prevention scheme to online and telephone banking

The Banking Protocol, a UK-wide scheme that enables bank branch staff to alert their local police force when they suspect a customer is being scammed, it to be extended to cover attempted bank transfers made by customers through telephone and online banking.

09 September 2020

News/retail

Nationwide switches on Apple Business Chat

Nationwide is giving clients the option of conversing with an AI agent via Apple Business Chat as an alternative to dialing up its call centre.

20 August 2020

News/retail

Axis Bank rolls out AI-powered voice assistant

India's Axis Bank has launched an AI-powered automated voice assistant to help answer customer queries.

11 August 2020

News/retail

Citing Covid-19, Westpac brings 1000 call centre jobs back to Australia

Westpac is moving 1000 overseas call centre jobs back to Australia after admitting that it has failed to keep up with a surge in demand during the Covid-19 pandemic.

29 July 2020

News/retail

HSBC rolls out Apple Business Chat service

HSBC UK and its first direct subsidiary have introduced a feature that lets customers contact them via the Messages app on Apple devices.

14 July 2020

News/retail

The WFH hub is here to stay - Westpac

Even as it begins to gradually bring employees back to offices, Westpac says that the Covid-19 pandemic will lead to a long-term shift to working from home.

17 June 2020

News/retail

One in four retail branches to close in Europe as digital interactions mushroom - Kearney

As many as 40,000 bank branches will close across Europe in the next three years, as increasing numbers of customers turn to digital channels, according to a study by consultancy Kearney.

27 May 2020

News/retail

Covid-19: Barclays CEO signals end of the skyscraper and rebirth of the branch

As Covid-19-fearing, social-distancing conscious CEOs abandon packed skyscrapers, the humble branch, long expected to go the way of the dodo, could find a second lease of life as a place to house call centre workers and investment bank staffers, according to Barclays CEO Jes Staley.

29 April 2020

News/people

165 jobs go as Monzo shuts Las Vegas customer support office

As Covid-19 continues to hit businesses around the world, UK challenger bank Monzo is shutting its customer support office in Las Vegas, with the loss of 165 jobs.

09 April 2020

Call centres