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Customers of IndusInd Bank can now use Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa to carry out transactions such as fund transfers, mobile phone recharge and credit card payments.
“The bank has launched its artificial intelligence-based Alexa Skill-IndusAssist, which enables its customers to conduct financial and non-financial banking transactions on Amazon Echo and other Alexa-enabled devices using voice-based commands,” the private sector lender said in a statement on Tuesday.
To use the service, customers have to do a one-time registration to link their bank details using the Alexa app on their smart phone.
Post registration, all authentication and transaction requests will remain voice-based – transactions would follow the standard two-step authentication process to ensure that they are safe and secure. “They will now be able to recharge their mobile phones, pay credit card bills and so on by voicing out simple commandments such as ‘Alexa, ask IndusAssist to recharge my mobile number’, or ‘Alexa, ask IndusAssist to pay my credit card bill’,” said the bank.
It is the first Indian bank to enter into such a partnership; most banks use text-based chatbots for financial transactions and assistance to customers. “The integration of our chatbot IndusAssist with Alexa is our attempt at taking banking beyond banking channels to the Internet of Things,” said Ritesh Raj Saxena, EVP & Head – Savings, Digital & Payments Business, IndusInd Bank.
Meanwhile, Aviva Life Insurance also announced its debut on Amazon’s Alexa platform with its Insurance Made Easy initiative. “Aviva becomes the first life insurance company in India to offer an Alexa skill to engage with its customers to simplify life insurance jargon,” it said in a release.
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