Will Siri Force Industry's Hand on Banking-by-Voice? Posted by AVCU on 2:22 PM

The June 15th issue of American Banker reports that this fall Apple will begin to allow third-party apps to access several of its internal capabilities, most notably Siri's application program interface. This means iPhone users will be able to ask the talking digital assistant to order an Uber car, check movie times on Fandango and initiate payments via the German neobank Number26.

But will major banks in the United States be ready to roll out Siri capabilities alongside other companies' apps on launch day, or will they take a wait-and-see approach? For most banks, the answer is almost certainly the latter. But the pressure is rising for it to be the former, observers say.

Consumers judge a bank's digital experience not against what another bank offers, but against all their other online and mobile interactions. And as companies outside the financial services sector quickly adopt the latest features, bankers may need to move quicker or hear about it from their customers.

The best proxy for what to expect with new features is Touch ID, the biometric feature that Apple opened up to third parties in 2014. Financial services firms like American Express, Discover Financial Services and BBVA's Simple were among the first to allow their customers to log in to their mobile apps via thumbprint. Banks like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America were slower to market, both releasing the feature well into 2015.

Similarly, Wells Fargo says its interest has been piqued by the potential use of Siri, but it would not disclose a timetable for adopting it.

While customers' expectations of new features might be growing, voice capabilities are an area where many banks are likely to step carefully and methodically.

If banks are planning to take a wait-and-see approach, they ought to be prepared to answer questions about when they'll adopt Siri, said Ken Hans, a partner and executive director of Blackstone Technology Group, an IT consultancy.

"I don't think not having Siri on launch day would send customers into a fit, but they are going to want to hear from banks," Hans said. "So they should have a road map and be ready to talk about their plans."

Read the full American Banker article.