5G is opening up a compelling and secure communications channel for financial services
Mobile apps and other digital tools have made it easier to interact with banks, insurers and other financial service providers. But when it comes to managing their financial affairs, many people want to talk to a human being. That isn’t always straightforward – a recent survey by Accenture found that 44% of consumers aged 18-44 had difficulty getting human support when they needed it from their bank.
A new mobile technology, known as 5G New Calling, promises to make it easier for financial services staff to hold secure and productive conversations with customers. That’s important because most consumers only use their bank’s existing digital channels for quick functional tasks, according to the Accenture survey.
Crucially, New Calling supports real-time caller authentication. Managed by mobile operators, New Calling enables an organisation to share a verified business card with the customer that confirms it is the real institution and not a spoof caller, intent on defrauding them.
In the many markets, where spoof calling is rife, this capability could help banks to maintain trusted relationships with consumers and reduce losses to fraud. In the US alone, about US$40 billion was lost as a result of scam calls in 2022, according to one estimate[1].
Speaking during a GSMA webinar about 5G New Calling, Sergio Pinherio, IT engineering specialist at Banco Itaú Unibanco (the largest private bank in Latin America), described spoofing as a big problem in Brazil. “Customers need the freedom to interact with us in the way that is most convenient to them,” he added. “When I think about 5G New Calling, I think about new features that can improve the experience of my customers. For example, I can see that the coverage in 5G can help to implement new controllers that can make the communication safer with ID, like a digital signature, that can define who is calling and this could avoid fraud, such as spoofing.”
New Calling, which is now being tested and deployed by operators in Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America, enables voice and video calls to be enriched by digital content, such as real-time captions, translations, animations, photos and business cards. Users can also easily share their location or their screen during a call.
For Banco Itaú, 5G New Calling could complement its existing customer engagement channels, which include email, social media, web chat, WhatsApp, phone calls and face-to-face interactions in its physical bank branches. Phone calls to Itaú’s contact centre remain the most used channel, according to a report by Analysys Mason, and Itaú employs around 20,000 agents in its contact centres to resolve incoming issues and to carry out marketing campaigns.
Reducing the cost of managing insurance claims
5G New Calling could also reduce friction and costs in the insurance sector. China Mobile is piloting a service that would allow a driver involved in a car accident to conduct an enhanced video call with their insurer. China’s auto insurers currently estimate that each vehicle damage assessment costs an average of $50.
Jingyou Technology and Huawei have used New Calling technology to develop a system that enables insurers to initiate video calls with customers involved in accidents. During the video call, customers can capture footage of the damage, upload certificates, and generate repair quotes, reducing assessment time from two hours to five minutes, cutting costs, and enhancing efficiency. The potential market is significant, with 70 million annual car damage claims in China.
China Mobile’s New Calling service, backed by Huawei’s 5G and IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) advancements, offers ultra HD video and interactive features through dedicated data channels. It can also employ augmented reality labels to guide customers through a specific process, such as an insurance claim.
New Calling is designed to build on mobile operators’ communications services’ inherent strengths. These include universal reach, rather than restricting the communications to people who have downloaded and activated a third-party app. Indeed, operators’ services work out-of-the-box, not requiring pre-installation of any software or separate subscription/identity.
The New Calling content sharing functions are realised through a mini-app that is automatically provided by the network to both devices before the call starts. Further, operators’ communication services can leverage the quality of service framework of the mobile system to guarantee a minimum level of performance.
For the financial services sector, 5G New Calling is set to be a valuable new communications tool that can deliver a better, richer and more secure customer experience than other digital channels. In essence, New Calling looks to combine the convenience of digital tools with the trust and authenticity inherent in face-to-face interactions.
[1] Source: https://www.truecaller.com/blog/insights/truecaller-insights-2022-us-spam-scam-report
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- Source: https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/25380/new-calling-promises-to-bring-banks-closer-to-customers?utm_medium=rssfinextra&utm_source=finextrablogs
