Credit Union Australia have announced the launch of their app (iM CUA) across iOS and Android after a successful trial that resulted in $11.6 million of new loans being taken out via the instant messenger app.
CEO Rob Goudswaard said that the pilot “with 2467 Apple iPhone users over the past nine months” had been judged a success and would now be expanded.
“The app resulted in a net promoter score of 53 amongst pilot users and $11.6 million in new lending,” Goudswaard said.
“We’re now preparing to relaunch the app in the coming weeks, making it available to all CUA members on compatible Apple and Android devices.”
The app itself if different from the chatbots getting around at the moment, you aren’t talking to a machine with artificial intelligence, you are talking to a person. The iM CUA app allows you to see a bio of each advisor before picking the one you want to speak to. The point of difference between the CUA’s app and many of the current pop-up chat windows is that you can choose to speak to the same person on an on-going basis.
“The really exciting part is that your personal banker is the same person every time, meaning they get to know you personally, using a digital channel,” Goudswaard said.
“The app uses the member’s online banking credentials to log them in, and once digitally verified, they can then interact at a one-on-one human level with their personal banker.”
The success of the trial and subsequent launch of the iM CUA app shows that there is an appetite for this kind of interaction and customers are happy to take care of their banking without ever speaking to someone.
This kind of technology can open the door to many opportunities for different industries. Imagine accountants being able to liaise with clients and do compliance work via an app, the client just gives them a few pieces of information and off they go.
It will be interesting to see if any other banks adopt a similar approach to customer banking, people already use their banking apps to request new cards, open accounts and make cardless payments.