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Credit Suisse Deploys 20 Robots Within Bank (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the robot-will-see-you-now dept.

Credit Suisse has deployed 20 robots within the bank, some of which are helping employees answer basic compliance questions, the Swiss bank's global markets chief executive, Brian Chin, said on Monday. From a report: Chin, speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, said the technology may help reduce the number of calls coming into the bank's compliance call center by as much as 50 percent. The technology works like Amazon's Alexa voice system. While Chin called them robots, it was not clear if they had a physical presence or how exactly employees interacted with them.

23 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. Names? by freeze128 · · Score: 1

    Can we agree to call them 'Bank-Bots'?

    1. Re:Names? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      It sounds like they are using the word "robot" to mean a software program that accepts input and produces output. So by that definition a web browser or a video game would also be a "robot".

    2. Re:Names? by lgw · · Score: 2

      I've always called bank robots "ATM"s. This has been the standard for decades.

      Quoted for visibility. People who watch SciFi but don't actually work with robots have this odd notion that robots are humaniform in some way, but that's not a very useful shape for any robot optimized for some task.

      Banks were early adopters of replacing customer-facing staff with robots. I remember the bad old days before ATMs were common - bring on the robots!

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    3. Re:Names? by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      While Chin called them robots, it was not clear if they had a physical presence or how exactly employees interacted with them.

      Can we agree to call them 'Bank-Bots'?

      How about we agree to wait and find out what they are before we debate what to call them?

  2. having worked at a bank by netsavior · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There is no faster way to get your initiative funded than to utter the word "Compliance." Well done, IT team, you got your pet robots.

    1. Re:having worked at a bank by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

      Compliance + robots = ED209

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    2. Re:having worked at a bank by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      There is no faster way to get your initiative funded than to utter the word "Compliance." Well done, IT team, you got your pet robots.

      Or they thought they did, until they realized that management just uttered the word "robot" next to the new software tool that was added to the deliverables for the quarter and provisioned to use existing resources.

    3. Re:having worked at a bank by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      ED209

      Just another cheap knockoff of the CrimeBuster(TM).

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  3. How long until we have a robot bank robber? by toonces33 · · Score: 1

    It is just a matter of time...

  4. Been using a bank robot since 1984 by OYAHHH · · Score: 2

    I give it my card, it gives me cash, and then hands my card back to me.

    It's called an ATM.

    --
    Caution: Contents under pressure
    1. Re:Been using a bank robot since 1984 by freeze128 · · Score: 1

      Help! It's got my tie!

    2. Re:Been using a bank robot since 1984 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I gave it my virginity. Then the cops came and arrested me for doing it in public. Would they have been happier if I had taken the machine to my place?

  5. Training, maybe? by magarity · · Score: 1

    To help employees answer basic compliance questions? Maybe a better approach is some basic training on basic compliance.

    1. Re:Training, maybe? by ark1 · · Score: 1

      This is a way to deflect risk? Have Robots provide by design faulty compliance advice then blame them if you don't meet compliance requirements.

  6. Telephone Trees by Toad-san · · Score: 1

    is what they used to call them as I recall, where a recording asks you a question or gives you options, and then you enter your choice. How smart does a telephone tree have to be before it qualifies to be called a robot?

    Is a light switch a robot?

  7. One Wonders... by Luthair · · Score: 1

    Whether robots also have quotas and have been programmed to mislead customers into signing up for unnecessary services.

  8. I call them... by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

    I call them annoying. And there's this.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  9. devil's in the details by myNameIsNotImportant · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...said the technology may help reduce the number of calls coming into the bank's compliance call center by as much as 50 percent.

    That's great and all, but you can reduce the calls by 99.999% if you force the users through a maze of menu options and prompts.

    When our help desk was outsourced to IBM consultants, the metrics were equally impressive. The reality however, is much less so --- most people simply opt not to call now, because the service is so horrible and decidedly unhelpful.
    ...But the call volume metrics say "job well done!".

    1. Re:devil's in the details by bjb · · Score: 1

      The reality however, is much less so --- most people simply opt not to call now, because the service is so horrible and decidedly unhelpful. ...But the call volume metrics say "job well done!".

      In banking, however, it isn't the same thing as a typical help desk when it come to compliance. It isn't optional like how someone might call to get a computer or physical product help and after being on hold for a bit decide to give up and just power cycle or otherwise "live with" or lose something (e.g. doing a reset would lose some pictures you just took), it is more having to log situations for legal compliance.

      I imagine in this case it is a platform where someone in the organization can log a situation for audit trail and/or legal compliance checks and it results in gathering the right details and submits it to a queue of compliance officers to process. Probably many of these situations can be handled by intelligent menu systems and voice recognition much like how you call your bank and tell them you want to discuss a charge on your credit card and get to the right person to help you. In this case, it is probably filling in fields and if it is a certain type of situation, it can do 100% of the work without involving someone on the phone.

      --
      Never hit your grandmother with a shovel, for it leaves a bad impression on her mind...
  10. Re:Waiting For Medical Droids. by HAKdragon · · Score: 1

    Please describe the nature of the medical emergency.

    --
    "Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs. We have a protractor."
  11. When they malfunction by volodymyrbiryuk · · Score: 1

    There will be no survivors

    --
    sudo rm -r -f --no-preserve-root /
  12. A papered-over decline in work by sethstorm · · Score: 1

    Chin said although technology has allowed Credit Suisse to cut back and middle office staff, headcount has remained flat because the bank has hired a large number of programmers.

    No word on if the same staff were retrained/retained or just replaced.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  13. Re:After wasting three hours today at BoA... by ISayWeOnlyToBePolite · · Score: 1

    I don't know why US banks haven't implemented the giro system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
    Neither do I know if your experience is typical, but seeing tv/movies where bills are payed with cheques has always seemed amusingly antiquated to me, who lives in a part of the world where that system literally went out of fashion before the first technicolor film.