Hey Siri, please pay all my bills

NATIONAL Australia Bank is predicting a world where digital payments become so entwined with our lives that voice-activated assistants help us to do all our shopping from the couch.

Voice-activated chatbots similar to Siri or Google Assistant will be built into banking apps on our smartphones, telling us our bank balances, paying our bills, transferring money and even ordering groceries.

Banking and everyday life will also become further entwined over the next couple of years, with NAB predicting customers will soon be able to arrange a car loan while inspecting a car in the dealership. NAB’s executive general manager, digital and innovation, Jonathan Davey, said people were becoming more comfortable using chatbots to find answers to basic questions.

“It won’t be long before we see these devices becoming common in every household and having the capability to provide consumers with the ability to perform personalised tasks, like being able to tell you your bank account balances or transaction history and even paying bills or transferring funds at your voice command,” he told Business Daily.