Citi Singapore launched their own chatbot on Facebook Messenger and named it Citi Bot that can provide customers with their account information.
Citi Bot will be made available to some 600 Citi customers and employees for its beta testing.
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The chatbot will be able to address some of the most common customers' needs including account-specific enquiries ranging from checking account balances and transactions, providing credit card bill summaries, rewards and points balances to answering frequently asked questions.
Citibank Singapore CEO Han Kwee Juan said this move is part of the bank's efforts to embrace a strategy that makes banking convenient and relevant to the growing number of tech-savvy customers.
"Our strategy is to be present where our customers live, work, and play. By connecting with them on Facebook Messenger, one of the most popular social platforms in Asia, we are doing just that," he explained in a statement.
He furthered, "Leveraging Natural Language Processing, the Citi chatbot will offer customers an intuitive and convenient new way to address everyday questions, including real-time account and transaction information, rewards balances and more."
Meanwhile, Facebook Director and Head of Financial Services Partnerships Kahina Van Dyke noted how financial firms can leverage on the social network.
"Banks, financial service and fintech firms are increasingly finding value in reaching their customers where they are already - with the 1.2 billion people who use Messenger every month," Van Dyke stated.
After garnering feedback from the beta community, Citi will roll out the second phase of the Citi Bot, which will introduce additional features such as card activation, ability to lock credit cards, and transaction alerts for cards.
The bank will then progressively launch Citi Bot in the Asia Pacific region over the next few months.
