Absa has introduced ChatBanking on WhatsApp, a service that allows users to conduct day-to-day banking through the popular messaging service.
ChatBanking on WhatsApp is an automated messaging system available to Absa account holders. It allows users to perform simple banking on the chat platform they prefer, using conversational language and short cut commands.
Speaking about the latest offering, Yasmin Masithela, chief executive for strategic services at Absa, said apps and mobile devices important tools in the bank's digital journey.
According to Masithela, the bank has embarked on a reset strategy in order to create a digitally-led scalable organisation.
She explained the bank's growth vision is to double revenue from 6% to 12%, and to do that the financial institution needs to exponentially change its business model to achieve targeted growth.
With that in mind, she continued, Absa has to reinvent itself, be competitive in the market and listen to the voice of the customer. "One of the things that came out clearly in our strategy is that we will be customer obsessed and part of the customer obsession is to think about the digital journey. We are not in the business of digitising the front end; we would want to do end-to-end digitalisation."
"The experience should be seamless...we would want the processes that sit in the back to be able to enable that digital journey for the customer so that they get speed, convenience, security and carry on with their lives while interacting with their financial services provider."
Banking on WhatsApp
Absa's new offering on WhatsApp is not the first time the bank has dabbled in ChatBanking services. In 2016, it launched ChatBanking on Twitter, which allowed customers to check their account balance, buy airtime and obtain a mini-statement via the social media platform.
In addition, the introduction of ChatBanking on WhatsApp follows the launch of Absa ChatBanking on Facebook Messenger.
Absa partnered with Clickatell to roll out ChatBanking on WhatsApp capabilities. Clickatell is an authorised WhatsApp Business Solution provider.
WhatsApp Business API provides the ability to send out notifications and conduct 2-way conversations with consumers right within WhatsApp. Clickatell has integrated the API into its Connect, Touch and Transact software-as-a-service solutions to make it easy for businesses to build a significant presence on the messaging service.
As part of the initial offering, Absa customers will be able to obtain the actual and available balance on their transactional accounts, buy airtime, data or SMS bundles for the cellphone registered to the account, a mini-statement, buy pre-paid electricity for selected municipalities, make payments to existing beneficiaries, view and redeem Absa rewards balance, as well as view a free mini credit report.
Jacques Barkhuizen, CIO for virtual channels for Absa retail and business banking, indicated that the bank worked on the ChatBanking on WhatsApp solution for roughly two years.
Explaining the motivation behind ChatBanking on WhatsApp, Barkhuizen said the concept was born out of the fact that Absa customers wanted to do banking fundamentally different. According to him, during the design analysis with customers and focus groups the message was clear that they wanted to bank differently, typically not within a baking app.
"When you look at the core functionality within Chatbanking you will notice that a lot of the functions that are available within the banking app can also is carried out on ChatBanking."
Absa initially introduced the service on 11 July, and so far it has garnered more than 10 000 customer registration, noted Barkhuizen.
Through the new channel, Absa received a total of 300 000 messages from customers and 54% of new users requested a mini credit report on the first day after joining ChatBanking on WhatsApp.
"ChatBanking on WhatsApp is more than a platform, it is a digital revolution and changing the way we do business," added Masithela. "Banking is about services and clients want to be able to access their financial service provider anywhere and anytime."
Commenting on the security aspect of the platform, Barkhuizen said the bank's technical teams have taken every precaution to ensure that transactions are 100% secure.
"We've got a multi-layered approach on the security perspective. Firstly, all traffic between the phone, WhatsApp and the back-end are fully encrypted. The second layer of security is around registration. When we register a customer, we look at the cellphone number, we analyse whether it has been SIM-swapped or not and make sure that the registered cellphone number is tied to the customer's profile at Absa."
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