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Dubai: Liv., the lifestyle digital bank by Emirates NBD and the fastest growing bank in the UAE, has partnered with US-based Kasisto, the creators of the KAI Banking AI platform for finance to introduce Olivia, Liv.’s conversational AI (artificial intelligence) based chatbot.
With the launch of Olivia, Liv. customers can get account information and insights on their spending as naturally as texting a friend. Olivia has a deep understanding of Liv.’s banking and lifestyle offerings. The chatbot can help customers get quick answers on how to make a local transfer or to block their card; text back account balance or how many Livions have been earned. Olivia can also answer queries on how much customers have spent last month on groceries or in restaurants, helping them plan and manage their finances better. Furthermore, Olivia can seamlessly hand over the conversation to the Liv. team if customers prefer to chat with a customer service agent.
Chatbots are AI-enabled computer programs designed to simulate human communication, allowing them to answer customer queries in real time. As AI uses human interaction to constantly adapt, grow and learn, Olivia was ‘trained’ by Liv. customers in a voluntary mentorship program prior to her launch. Over 3,000 mentors interacted with the chatbot using natural or conversational English, offering Liv.’s customers a chance to co-create a more intuitive and personalised customer experience.
“Virtual assistants are playing an increasingly important part in our daily lives and our new chatbot Olivia will offer millennial customers a new way to engage with and receive information and instant insights on their spending and finances,” said Jayash Patel, Head of Liv. “Our partnership with Kasisto helped us leverage KAI’s agile platform with built-in banking expertise and complemented by customer feedback, to humanise and train Olivia in line with our goal of serving as a financial buddy to customers.”
By utilising application programming interfaces (APIs) to integrate with data management platforms and applying appropriate algorithms or rules, chatbots adds a new dimension in delivering personalized insights and support for customers. During the mentorship programme, Olivia was able to offer instant assistance to over 80,000 customer questions, while learning and incorporating additional nuances of natural language based communication of UAE customers.
“We plan to continue to invest in evolving Olivia’s functionalities to become more engaging and intuitive. As Olivia learns and grows, customers will develop a stronger affinity and a relationship of trust with her and therefore want to contribute to her development while also getting instant answers from her on relevant queries,” added Patel.
“Liv.’s goal of providing a differentiated digital experience for a new generation of customers, empowering them in their daily lives, learning and adapting to their individual preferences, and providing a banking platform that is intuitive and simple to use matched perfectly with Kasisto’s vision to enable customers to make better financial decisions through human-like conversational AI,” said Zor Gorelov, CEO and Co-Founder of Kasisto. “We’re thrilled that Liv. chose KAI, Kasisto’s state-of-the-art conversational AI platform to create Olivia and power its conversational experiences as they embark on their journey to create a unique and innovative new bank.”
With chatbots becoming more widespread in customer service, Gartner predicts that in the near future they will handle no less than 85% of all customer interactions. To introduce Olivia, Liv. launched an innovative, teaser marketing campaign across social media channels. The campaign included opening a job position for a chatbot, accepting applications, conducting live interviews with the final five candidates, following which Olivia was ‘hired’.
Curious whether Olivia is a girl? Go ahead and ask Olivia and get the answer!
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About Liv.:
Liv. is the UAE’s first digital-only bank with a special focus on millennial customers, operated and managed by Emirates NBD Group. Established in line with UAE Vision 2021’s strategic objectives of creating a smart innovation-driven economy, Liv. offers a first-of-its-kind banking-meets-lifestyle experience, on a smartphone. Its unique features include instant account opening with #nopaperwork and real time access to insightful financial data and transaction history to empower customers to better manage their finances. Liv.’s proposition is supported by a group of partner brands, enabling it to offer customers a range of personalized lifestyle promotions and offers.
About Emirates NBD
Emirates NBD is a leading banking Group in the region. As at 31st December 2018, total assets were AED 500.3 Billion, (equivalent to approx. USD 136 Billion). The Group has a significant retail banking franchise in the UAE and is a key participant in the global digital banking industry, with over 90 per cent of all financial transactions and requests conducted outside of its branches. The bank was declared the Most Innovative Financial Services Organization of the Year at the 2017 BAI Global Innovation Awards.
The bank currently has 230 branches and 1069 ATMs and SDMs in the UAE and overseas and a large social media following, being the only bank in the Middle East ranked among the top 20 in the ‘Power 100 Social Media Rankings’, compiled by The Financial Brand. It is a major player in the UAE corporate and retail banking arena and has strong Islamic Banking, Global Markets & Treasury, Investment Banking, Private Banking, Asset Management and Brokerage operations.
The Group has operations in the UAE, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom and representative offices in China and Indonesia.
The Group is an active participant and supporter of the UAE’s main development and community initiatives, in close alignment with the UAE government’s strategies, including financial literacy and advocacy for inclusion of People with Disabilities under its #TogetherLimitless platform. Emirates NBD Group is an Official Premier Partner of Expo 2020 Dubai. For more information, please visit: www.emiratesnbd.com
For further information on Emirates NBD, please contact:
Ibrahim Sowaidan
Senior Vice President
Head - Group Corporate Affairs
Emirates NBD
Telephone: +971 4 609 4113 / +971 50 6538937
Email: ibrahims@emiratesnbd.com
Tricia Kaul | Jerusha Sequeira
asda’a bcw; Dubai, UAE
Tel: 971-4-4507600;
Fax: 971-4-4358040
Email: Tricia.Kaul@bcw-global.com |
Jerusha.Sequeira@bcw-global.com
About Kasisto
KAI is the leading Conversational AI platform for the finance industry. Kasisto’s customers include DBS Bank, J.P. Morgan, Mastercard, Standard Chartered, TD Bank and Wells Fargo, among others. They chose KAI Banking for its proven track record to drive business results while improving customer experiences. The platform is engaging with millions of consumers around the world, across multiple channels, in different languages, and is optimized for performance, scalability, security, and compliance. Built with the deepest AI portfolio in the industry, KAI includes platform tools and services to customize and continually improve consumer experiences as well as seamlessly add new features, channels, and markets. Kasisto is headquartered in New York City with offices in Silicon Valley and Singapore. Kasisto Singapore Pte Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kasisto. For more information visit kasisto.com. Follow Kasisto on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
CONTACT: kasisto@methodcommunications.com
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