Bank to test face-to-face video advice instead of call centres
CLYDESDALE & Yorkshire Bank customers could soon be speaking to advisers by video instead of being forced to ring call centres, as part of its efforts to develop digital banking services.
Last week the firm opened Studio B, a high-tech branch in London’s Kensington that will serve as its testing ground and development lab for new technologies, products and services.
Debbie Crosbie, group chief operating officer, said it wants to experiment with Apple’s FaceTime video calls technology to deliver customer services.
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She said: “At the moment, if you walk into a branch and can’t speak to someone, you get put on to a call centre. But potentially, we would roll out FaceTime so that instead of talking to a call centre, you speak to someone face to face.”
Crosbie added that the bank is piloting the use of facial recognition technology to speed up the account opening and validating processes.
It is also looking at using voice recognition to enhance its phone banking service.
Elsewhere, on Thursday HSBC is tipped to say its first quarter pre-tax profits have fallen 23 per cent to $4.7billion (£3.6billion) due to currency headwinds, having to set aside more money to meet capital requirements and yet more losses from its US consumer and mortgage lending division.
Last Friday investors gave Barclays’ first quarter results a vote of confidence, with 94 per cent of trades in its shares being buy orders, said broker TD Direct Investing.
Barclays’ pre-tax profits more than doubled to £1.7billion.
Shareholders gave rival Royal Bank of Scotland the cold shoulder, even though it posted a quarterly profit of £259million, its first since the third quarter of 2015.
TD said that 73 per cent of RBS trades were sell orders.
