The new, low-touch economy has set me thinking about robots recently. The less society is able to interact with fellow humans, the more voids exist, especially in the services industry.
And I’m not just talking about restaurants and hair salons (though, are robot barbers in our future?). The banking industry is a prime candidate for the intervention of a physical robot in a world suffering from a highly transmissible disease.
Perhaps the most famous robot in fintech is HSBC’s Pepper, a humanoid robot created by Softbank. HSBC has deployed Pepper at branches around the world and has been praised for boosting ATM transactions, increasing credit card applications, and more.
At last year’s FinovateFall event I caught up with HSBC’s Head of Innovation Jeremy Balkin, who discussed the bank’s traction with Pepper the robot.
In a world still struggling to collectively fight the virus while remaining socially distant, HSBC is leveraging technologies such as AI, wearables, and robotics to bring people together. The bank is using these enabling technologies to help promote financial inclusion, spur wealth creation, and support equality through language translation.
These goals may require heavy-lifting but the technologies we have are more-than capable for the tasks at hand. At FinovateFall this September, be sure to catch Balkin’s keynote address as he discusses HSBC’s efforts amidst the global health crisis.
FinovateFall will take place in a digital format– complete with live, remote networking– on September 14 through 18. Discounts are available so be sure to book today.
Photo by Erik Binggeser on Unsplash