ING Bank in the Netherlands is introducing voice-activated payments through its mobile app, enabling customers to authorise transactions by conversing with a virtual assistant on their phone.
Over 100,000 ING Netherlands’ customers already use the avatar in the mobile app, called Inge, to do basic tasks such as check their bank balance or issue payments within the app.
The bank says that feedback from early users has helped refine the application to the extent that it now feels confident to extend deployment to payments initiation, describing it as smart, intuitive alternative to PINs and passwords.
Jeroen Losekoot, Internet & mobile marketing manager at ING, says: “Thanks in part to the inclusion of biometric applications, we are able to make banking faster, smoother and easier for our customers and improve access."
Inge is the Dutch equivalent of Nuance Communications's Nina, a virtual assistant with whom customers can engage in conversational speech. The technology is already in use at other large banks, including USAA, Tangerine Bank, Tatra Bank and Santander.