NatWest is trialling the use of artificial intelligence technology from a company set up by a former FSA regulator to monitor and analyse the context of sales conversations recorded between clients and front-life staff.
With customer consent, Recordsure’s technology records face-to-face and telephone conversations, encrypting and uploading an audio recording which is securely stored on servers at former UK and US military facilities built to protect data and people in the event of a nuclear attack.
The artificial intelligence technology can read, comprehend, and flag risk factors in recorded interactions. It can identify where in an interaction a customer was given initial disclosures, which parts were financial advice, and which parts were general chitchat. It can also identify whether certain topics or issues have not been discussed.
Recordsure was founded in 2011 by former FSA regulator Joanne Smith, who claims the technology can create significant efficiencies in banks’ compliance monitoring processes, "resulting in up to a 50% reduction in compliance costs”.
Les Matheson, CEO of personal and business banking, comments: “We want to restore trust and give customers complete confidence in us. Last year we scrapped bonuses for frontline staff so customers would know our advice was based on their needs, not commission. This trial goes even further and we look forward to seeing how it can improve the service we provide.”
He says NatWest is currently running tests of Recordsure’s technology with some of its mortgage advisors and is looking at how it could be applied to other areas of the bank where regulated conversations take place.