Looking for a fintech to build a chatbot for your bank? Tucked inside a recent survey by Personetics was this note from the Head of Innovation Lab at BRD Groupe Société Générale, Horia Velicu. The survey measured attitudes among decision-makers at more than 200 financial institutions toward chatbot technology.
Our goal is to create an experience in line with how customers want to interact with businesses in the digital age. If I can order a ride or buy food on Facebook Messenger, I should also be able to manage my money in the same conversational and real-time environment.
And lo and behold, both Finextra and American Banker have cited Société Générale as one of the major FIs exploring chatbot technology and turning to Personetics to do it. SocGen plans to introduce their chatbot through its Romanian banking unit later this year. And while the initial deployment will be limited to responding to investor queries about equity funds, success here will lead to other uses of the chatbot, such as retail deposit accounts and billpay, as well as rolling out the technology in other areas.
Pictured (left to right): Solution Architect Sudharshan Krishnan and CEO/co-founder David Sosna demonstrating Personetics Anywhere at FinovateFall 2016.
“The true test for conversational commerce is in the ability to solve real problems and guide customers through meaningful and sometimes complex commercial and financial activities,” Personetics co-founder and CEO David Sosna said. His company’s survey revealed that more than three quarters of those who responded said they believed chatbot technology would be “a viable commercial solution now or within the next 1 to 2 years.” Additionally, a majority of respondents believe a “substantial share” of customer interactions will be managed by chatbots within the next 3 to 5 years.
Personetics specializes in helping banks create personalized digital experiences for their customers. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, Personetics demonstrated its Personetics Anywhere chatbot at FinovateFall 2016. The company launched its Chatbot Bootcamp last fall, and earned a spot in the FinTech Forward 20 “Companies to Watch” roster. We featured Personetics in our look at Finovate alums “representing fintech innovation in Israel” last summer, and profiled the company in our Finovate Debut series. In addition to Anywhere, Personetics offers a next-generation, natural language powered, digital self-service product, Personetics Assist, and a customer relationship solution called Personetics Engage that leverages predictive analytics to enable banks to help customers reach financial goals.
Natan Abramov, Co-founder & CTO
CR2 Chairman Kieran Nagle praised both executives’ “strong track records and weighty experience within the financial services and financial technology sector.” In addition to his tenure at Mastercard, Byrne (pictured) previously served as Managing Director, General Manager, Europe; and VP Sales, UK and Ireland for Transaction Network Services. He also spent five years in sales and marketing at NCR. Byrne has degrees from Marist College and University of Limerick, as well as an MBA from the University College Dublin.