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‘Hey Siri, what’s my account balance?’: Westpac introduces voice-activated payments

Westpac has rolled out voice activated payments for its customers.

Westpac has rolled out voice activated payments for its customers. Photo: Westpac

Westpac has become the first bank in Australia to offer voice-activated banking to its customers. 

The bank announced on Wednesday it will introduce an extension of its mobile banking app for iPhone users, called Siri for Westpac.

The extension means the bank’s 2.5 million customers who use mobile banking will be able to make payments to any payee set up in their mobile app, or conduct online banking from their transaction account linked to Apple’s virtual assistant. For example:

Customer question: “Hey Siri, can you pay John Smith $50 for dinner?” Siri’s response: “Here is your Westpac payment of $50 to John Smith. Do you want to send it?”

To authenticate payments, customers will be prompted to input their fingerprint or Face ID before the money is transferred to the payee.

Using the Siri extension, customers will also be able to check up to three account balances that are quick balanceenabled in their banking app.

Westpac research shows about one in two Australians (48 per cent) use a voice assistant on their smartphone. A third of this group uses it at least once a day. 

In a recent survey conducted by the bank, 28 per cent of Australians identified not having their bank login details readily available as one of the biggest roadblocks to transferring money via mobile.

Westpac group chief executive, consumer bank, George Frazis said a growing number of Australians used Siri to help make their lives easier and faster. 

“Now, Westpac customers will be the first in Australia to have the choice and convenience of using Siri voice technology to make a payment, and also check their account balance,” Mr Frazis said. 

“This is part of our continued strategy of providing our customers with the technology and tools to meet their financial needs.”

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