What is Video Banking?

A recent trend has been the development of video banking. This is where customers have the opportunity to chat to banking staff using a remote video connection, whether embedded in an automatic teller machine (ATM), in video-equipped branches, or using their own internet-connected devices.

An example of video banking using ATMs is with Bank of America. A number of their ATMs are attached to call centers, and customers can talk on video with real tellers at the call centers. These tellers are available for longer hours than at local bank branches, and they perform more banking services than are possible at traditional ATMs.

A few other banks around the world offer a variety of in-branch video banking services. For instance, the Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) uses a centralised business banking team, and if you are at any smaller branch, if you want to set up business banking accounts you go into a booth and have a video conference with someone from the business banking team. In many ways it is just like being present with a real banking officer, indeed in some ways it feels more personal as there is just you and the large screen HD video image of the bank officer in the booth, so you feel that you have their full attention. It is very easy to get the necessary paperwork done quickly and efficiently. Nationwide in the UK and a few smaller US banks are trialling similar technologies at present.

Barclay’s bank, in the UK, has gone one stage further and recently begun offering a video banking service that allows customers to have a “face-to-face” conversation with an adviser via their smartphone, tablet or computer, wherever they are in the world, at any time of day.

Kairos and Video Banking

So, where does Kairos fit into this? What does Kairos have to do with video banking?

Kairos has partnered with LiveNinja, a video-chat based startup, to offer banks an efficient and cost-effective way to engage with their customers directly on their website. Through this partnership, banks have the ability to identify and authenticate customers via facial recognition and real-time video chat.

In 2014, LiveNinja released Katana, a video chat platform that helps businesses connect with their customers utilizing a “one click” mentality. Their service works like a text chat feature would on any website, but it adds the ability to engage face-to-face via audio and video chat. Of course, one clear and obvious usage for this platform is video banking.

As Will Weinraub, CEO of LiveNinja says, "With our video chat platform, banks can now serve their customers online while maintaining the human, personal touch that is so important for this industry."

As video banking expands, security becomes more of an issue. Until now most banks offering video banking have relied on traditional identification. If you are using a branch to do your video banking, you have already been able to present your normal banking identification. However as the practice becomes more widespread, and the location of your video banking becomes only limited by your capacity to obtain internet reception, the need for more definite security identification increases.

By integrating Kairos’ facial recognition software to the Katana platform, bank representatives are now able to identify and authenticate their customers instantly. Kairos strives to create a secure environment for any business that they work with by making the process of identification simple and convenient.

Most banks simply rely on an account number and a password for identification. Of course there is no guarantee that this information has not leaked into the wrong hands. With facial recognition there is much higher certainty that the person using the banking application is actually the account holder.

“It feels like I read about identity theft each week,” said Brian Brackeen, CEO at Kairos. “It’s a problem that’s more and more common. I believe Kairos can massively reduce identity fraud saving hundreds of millions annually.”

While on a Katana video chat call, Kairos’ technology automatically captures facial features, no matter the condition, to recognize, and verify customer identities. The implications for the customer extend far beyond just security. It gives the customer access to their accounts and enables them to easily resolve issues related to fraudulent activity.

“It’s all about trust. After someone’s identity has been verified, the bank can then offer a wider range of options to better serve the customers,” Brackeen said. “We are the mechanism that powers that trust.”

“Trust and security is important everywhere, but that's especially true when it comes to banking." adds Weinraub. "That's why we're so excited about our partnership with Kairos and the value that we can bring to both banks and their customers."