Digital banks and money apps criticised for ‘opaque’ use of customer data

Digital banking and money applications are monitored by city regulators and people are concerned about the transparency of certain services

In recent years, the number of mobile banking and payment services provided by third parties is rapidly increasing. This includes mature services such as PayPal to the new challenge banks Monzo, Starling, Tandem. Many smartphone apps also allow users to manage their finances

From January 2018, the user's real-time current account data will be available on the application and website based on the new "open banking" rule.

However, it is concerned that many of these services are not regulated, and some services can not explain that selling data to customers and using them for other purposes.

The regulatory authority Financial Conduct Authority is also considering ways these companies provide services to customers. Foreign currency exchange service attracts attention as a field where companies may misunderstand customers.

According to Samantha Seaton of the mobile application Moneyhub, many users charge unnecessary expenses and often charge after registering.

"Industry innovation is hindered by products and hindered by complex marketing, which does not notice the costs and fees that people may have, has a permanent impact on the trust of financial services "She said.

"The emergence of open banking earlier this year will have a major impact on consumers who regain control of data.Since unfortunately there are some applications that provided user data for free at downloading or earned a fee for the recommended product . "

Bank digital assistant Erica can be found in the bank's mobile app. Bank of America customers can chat with Erica via voice or SMS. Erica's main goal is to help customers create better pension habits. For example, a robot could send text to someone. "Jame, I found a great opportunity to save $ 300 by reducing debt." The largest nonlife insurance company in the United States developed a chatbot "ABIe". The agent learns to sell commercial insurance products. Robots can guide agents through the commercial sales process and extract documents. You can see which product the agent is handling at which stage. We process more than 25,000 queries every month.

Some robots are designed to attract new customers, but other robots provide services to existing customers. Bank of America's digital assistant named Erica lives in the company's mobile app. CNBC reports that Erica provides bank customers with advice on how to manage their funds and identifies opportunities related to debt relief and savings plans. "Considering how your mobile phone Siri makes your life easier, Siri style presence on your site's live chat (tool) thinks of ways to save your support team's time "By properly applying machine learning techniques, these chatbots and personal assistants forecast and predict the needs of a particular customer for the rest of the future," Corbitz said. I will be able to do it. "

"HLB SmartUp" after providing the latest Hong Leong Connect application to customers is the latest effort of Hong Leong's "digital core" strategy. By investing in talent through innovation and digital means, we are not only hoping to further improve the customer and employee's overall experience.

We are pleased to announce that our customers can use US bank accounts to purchase digital currency on the spot. In the past, customers purchased in bank accounts had to wait several days before receiving digital currency. Customers can purchase up to $ 25,000 * and immediately access their digital currency. Our mission is to make the coin base the most reliable, safe and easy to use digital currency exchange. Instant purchase makes it easier and faster for customers to invest in the digital currency ecosystem. Shortening the time to receive digital currency is always a welcome feature and I am pleased to be able to provide this improved experience to our customers.