Europe premiere: ING adds voice recognition to mobile banking app

Holland’s ING has become the first bank in Europe to add a voice control mode to its mobile app, enabling customers to issue commands by speaking, according to a press release. Initially, people will be able to check balances and give payment orders, with authorisations and login coming later in the year.

Dutch bank ING has claimed a first in Europe with the introduction of voice commands on its mobile banking app. The interactive service called Inge offers an alternative to the touch screen for navigating the app, allowing users to introduce for example account numbers or request their balance by voice. Log-in and authentication still requires a PIN code, but ING plans to add voice recognition for this later this year.

Rolling out to a select group of customers this month, the feature is enabled through the set-up menu in the ING app. The app recognises the user’s voice, letting them carry out various tasks by issuing commands. Initially, people will be able to check balances and give payment orders, with authorisations and login coming later in the year.

“Inge is a new way of making mobile banking easy for our customers. The feature makes it possible, for instance, to read out loud the requested IBAN number instead of typing it, which makes handling your banking affairs easier,” said Max Mouwen, general manager of Internet and Mobile ING Netherlands.

The voice control mode will be introduced step-by-step in the Netherlands, where 1.9 million of our ING customers are currently using of the ING Mobile Banking App, and logging in on average six times a week.

In the States, US Bank is piloting voice biometrics technology which allows customers to access their accounts by speaking into their mobile phones.