“To enable the feature, customers must have an Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, or Amazon Tap speaker, as well as an Amazon account and the Alexa smartphone app.”
U.S. Bank has launched a new function for customers who own Amazon Alexa devices allowing them to check balances and make payments by voice command.
The nationwide launch follows a smaller pilot project undertaken this summer. To enable the feature, customers must have an Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, or Amazon Tap speaker, as well as an Amazon account and the Alexa smartphone app. By speaking to Alexa, Amazon’s voice-controlled AI assistant, they can pay their U.S. Bank credit cards and ask about due dates, check various account balances, and even hear their transaction histories.
In launching the new functionality, U.S. Bank finds itself exploring a new frontier in fintech, with the UK’s Barclays bank having also recently announced a new system allowing customers to make payments by talking to Siri, Apple’s voice-controlled AI assistant. In a statement announcing U.S. Bank’s initiative, its head of omnichannel banking, Gareth Gaston, explained, “Voice technology is going to be central to the future of digital interaction.”
Indeed, and with Amazon now working together with Microsoft to establish a growing compatibility between their voice platforms, this functionality could be extended to many more customers in the future.
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