B1NK bot brings payments “first” to Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan © Wikipedia
Digital-only B1NK, part of Capital Bank Kazakhstan, has unveiled the region’s “first” chat and payments bot – using Telegram Messenger.
The bank says its customers can send money to friends and manage their cards all via the messenger service.
Gani Uzbekov, CEO, Capital Bank Kazakhstan (B1NK), says: “Today only a couple of tier-2 banks in Kazakhstan offer mobile banking services. There’s definite potential for growth in this area, because people in Kazakhstan are tech-savvy and ready to embrace technological innovations. B1NK’s aim is to simplify banking, and to make finance management more convenient.”
The “friendly” chat bot B1NK (@b1nkbot) speaks three languages – Kazakh, English and Russian. It answers user’s questions about ATM and branch locations, currency exchange rates, and “even how bots spend their free time”.
B1NK says messenger banking means that customers have an “always-on digital finance assistant”. With @b1nkbot, users can see their transaction history and card balances, help block cards, set card transaction limits and make mobile money transfers.
The service is based on Belgium-based OpenWay’s Way 4 Messenger Banking, a white-label solution which assists customer service via messenger applications.
