Fully automated bank outlet opens in Shanghai
April 17, 2018 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
An “unmanned”, fully automated bank outlet opened in Shanghai, receiving positive feedback from customers – especially younger ones. The facility, installed by China Construction Bank’s Shanghai branch on Jiujiang Road is self-service, replacing counters and clerks at conventional banks with robots, ATMs, a foreign exchange machine and an assortment of multimedia tools. It comes at a time when concepts like mobile internet, big data and artificial intelligence have become inseparable from Chinese people’s everyday lives as many already deal with wealth management and money transfers on their mobile phones.
China Construction Bank (CCB) said the variety of self-service machines – assisted by cutting-edge technologies, such as robots, voice recognition, augmented reality, face recognition, voice navigation and holographic projection – can process more than 90% of the cash and non-cash business of a conventional bank. Customers visiting the bank for the first time need to use an ID card or bank card to get in through a turnstile. Then their facial information is collected and they can proceed with almost any kind of transaction. They do not need to show their credentials or mobile phones again. Another highlight of the automated bank is a robotic guide that can understand and reply to all kinds of questions in Mandarin. An employee was still on hand as the outlet had just opened.
He Fei, Senior Researcher at Bank of Communications (BoCom) in Shanghai, said the unstaffed branch will act as a good test ground to garner customer opinion. “There will be ample room for improvement, through daily operation,” he said, although he did not think the technology will become widespread. At the end of last year, 228,700 bank branches had been set up in China with 802,600 self-service machines, according to the China Banking Association. Among them, 113,900 are considered “smart” machines that offer services beyond cash deposit or withdrawals.
- KURT VANDEPUTTE (UMICORE) APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF THE FLANDERS-CHINA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (FCCC)
- Webinar: “Knowing Your Chinese Partner” – May 26, 2021, 10 am – 12 am
- EMA starts rolling review of CoronaVac, WHO approves Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use
- The Global Times warns not to politicize the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI)
- Hainan to become biggest duty-free market in the world