“…Siri represents a useful technological tool to enhance the bank’s appeal to customers who have iPhones and iPads.”
Barclays has become the first bank in the world to let customers make payments by asking Siri, Apple’s voice-controlled AI assistant.
The functionality comes via the Barclays Mobile Banking app, which allows users to say commands like, “Hey Siri, pay Paul thirty quid with Barclays.” Then it’s just a matter of verifying the transaction with a fingerprint scan on the iPhone’s Touch ID system.
Barclays’ embrace of Siri contradicts the bank’s previous hostility to Apple over its Apple Pay platform, which the bank refused to support until long after it had launched in the UK. Then again, while Apple Pay posed a threat to Barclays’ marketshare in British banking, Siri represents a useful technological tool to enhance the bank’s appeal to customers who have iPhones and iPads.
The new feature offers a hint of things to come with respect to a P2P payments feature planned for this autumn’s new version of Apple’s iOS mobile operating system. Apple has confirmed that iOS 11 will allow users to send money to each other through the Messages texting system, or by voice command via Siri.
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August 21, 2017 – by Alex Perala
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