Robots are taking over the financial service industry in many ways. Everyone is familiar with the ATM machine, and now robotic banking is showing up in mainstream financial institutions. 
Consider Pepper, she is greeting customers at HSBC’s New York City’s location on Fifth Avenue. The customer service robot has become the face of the growing trend in ‘friendly’ robotics in recent years.
Pepper has held quite a few positions over the past several years, from airport greeter to shopping mall info desk staffer. Though, in Japan, she’s held even more roles, and finally coming to work in the United States in 2016.
Germany’s largest bank is also employing robotic bankers in their everyday operations. According to Deutsche Bank Chief Executive John Cryan, technology is reshaping the entire industry, and that the process of robotic banking moving into the mainstream is inevitable and will happen whether banks get on board or not.
China recently opened the world’s first human-free branch in Shanghai. Xiao Long is the latest employee at the Jiujiang Road branch of the China Construction Bank and is never late for work. She offers a friendly greeting to the customers as they arrive at the bank flashing a brilliant smile and saying, ‘what can I help you with today?’. That’s because Xiao Long, or “Little Dragon” is not your average banking employee – she’s a robot at China’s first fully automatic, human-free bank branch.
She’s the guardian of the bank. She talks to the customers, checks their accounts, takes bank cards – as she’s complete with a PIN pad – and can answer the basic questions that customers may have. After a quick chat, customers pass through an electronic gate where their faces and ID cards are scanned. Upon future visits, facial recognition alone will open the gates for the bank’s clientele and retrieve their pertinent information.
To ensure that Little Dragon and Pepper get it right, their ‘eyes’ need to be sharp and clear, and be able to transmit the most accurate data to the computer systems employed. Universe Optics can ensure that the precision lens designed for your robotic banker will deliver the data you require with the accuracy necessary in the banking world.
One problem with this form of technology is perception. Popular culture has convinced people that robots are something to be feared. When the mind thinks ‘robots’ it conjures up thoughts of movies like Terminator, Blade Runner or the Transformers.
Right now, technology is at its best with humans at the helm. This is one small example of the relationship that can be forged between humans and digital technologies in banking. Technology can decrease redundancies, speed up processes and make life easier for employees. Instead of replacing employees, banks can simply “reuse” them. They can be trained in new areas, given more oversight and spend more time with the customer.
As technology and robots continue to spread across financial services, banks should focus on ways to capitalize on it, not run from it. In many cases, the best results are when humans and robots are working together.