ING Rolls Out Nuance's Voice-Controlled Mobile Banking App
ING Netherlands is using Nuance Communications' voice and artificial intelligence (AI) technology platform, Nina, to power Inge, the new voice feature of ING Netherlands' mobile banking app.
ING Netherlands is leveraging Nuance's Nina to offer a hands-free alternative for customers to do mobile banking. With the addition of Inge to the ING mobile app, ING customers will be able to simply speak via a human-like conversational interface to control the mobile banking app. ING Netherlands is the first bank to offer such a voice-controlled mobile app in Europe, with the new release being made available in mid-September.
Inge uses the capabilities in Nuance Nina, a platform that enables intelligent natural language understanding (NLU) and text-to-speech interfaces for mobile apps. ING Netherlands customers can engage in a natural conversation to conduct their mobile banking transactions, as opposed to tapping through multiple menus and screens on their mobile devices.
The feature lets customers check, for example, their balance or enter account numbers by voice. Following the initial release, ING will update the app to also include Nuance voice biometrics so users can securely access the app by voice.
"The mobile phone is more and more becoming the starting point for banking today. Already 1.9 million of our 8 million customers use our mbile banking app today,” said Max Mouwen, director of Internet and mobile at ING Netherlands, in a statement. "It is our intent to deliver an easy experience for our customers who are accessing their accounts via our mobile app. Nuance has been a terrific partner in helping us to achieve that goal. When it comes to speech and natural language, as well as voice biometrics, Nuance was able to deliver the best technology and services to create a truly innovative solution for our customers. The result is a remarkable, human experience that puts our customers in control, saves them time, and makes sense for our business as well."
Nina leverages Nuance’s virtual assistant and AI technologies to deliver a multichannel, automated customer service experience for the consumer and the enterprise. Nina is available from Nuance in 43 spoken and 13 text languages. Nina can also be extended with Nuance’s voice biometrics to provide a secure and convenient way for consumers to verify their identity by voice.