‘ALEXA, WHAT’S MY BANK BALANCE?’

Voice banking will provide convenience, but use Alexa and Google Assistant via secured APIS

“Alexa, play Sorry.” “Hey Alexa, how many cases of Covid-19 in Mumbai today?”

Until now, these were the kind of questions you may have thrown at Alexa, the voice assistant from Amazon. Now, with a number of banks in India such as ICICI, Indusind, Axis, and United Bank of India having launched voice banking, you can even ask her this: “Hey Alexa, what’s my bank balance?”

Simply put, this is an artificial intelligence-powered multi-channel chatbot, married to a voice-assistance app, which allows you to use banking services via voice commands. Says Sameer Shetty, head-digital banking, Axis Bank: “Enabling this on your device allows you to ask for your banking details, which you can receive on your mobile via SMS.” ICICI Bank offers it on both Alexa and Google Assistant, while Axis Bank and Indusind Bank offer voice banking only with Alexa at present.

Services being added on the go:

There are several things you can do via this facility in the Western world, like shopping, paying your credit card bills and making other payments using this service. But in India you can perform only a few actions currently. For instance, with Indusind Bank you can do fund transfers and recharge your mobile or DTH connection. Some banks allow you to check bank balance, loyalty points and nominations, pay your credit card bills, and find when a fixed deposit is due to mature. An Indusind Bank spokesperson says: “With the proliferation of Alexa-enabled IOT devices at home and in car systems, voice controlled, on-the-go payment services have a ready market. Alexa skills for cab booking, movie and travel tickets are being launched as well.” Not all banks offer all the services; many are gradually rolling out new services.

A free channel:

This new facility proved useful during the lockdown. Says Bijith Bhaskar, head- digital channels & partnership, ICICI Bank: “This facility offered customers yet another way to connect with their bank from home at a time when they were advised to stay indoors in the wake of the nationwide lockdown.” The good part is that this service is free. Says Shetty: “There's no charge, so you don't pay to know the balance, place a request for a cheque book or a replacement credit card.” Of course, you will have to pay for the card.

Language and device-related issues:

Voice banking isn't going to be easy in a country that has such a vast number of languages. Says Raman Singh, co-founder and CRO, Cloudconnect Communication: “Alexa or Google Assistant are still not fully trained for Indian languages and accents. Both have still got issues and will take time to be productive for voice banking here.”

Two devices are involved when you use voice banking — the speaker and the mobile phone — and the details are obtained via SMS. Says Ritesh Bhatia, a Mumbai- based cybercrime investigator, cyber security consultant, and data privacy professional: “This facility should have been fully sound-based. If I must check my phone, then what's the point? Already there are so many channels, like IVR (interactive voice response), apps, etc. Banks are launching new channels but should also raise security awareness.” In a similar vein, Maaz Ansari, co-founder at ORI says: “While this is a step in the right direction, this technology’s full potential will be realised only when customers can transact securely and directly, without any dependency on their phones, and in the language of their choice."

Beware the security risks:

When it comes to a relatively new technology, security is the topmost concern. Says Singh: “The major risk is that Alexa and Google Assistant are always listening and recording all the conversations even when the devices are switched off. This can be a huge privacy risk to any bank.”

Recently in Europe, a fraudster deepfaked a CEO'S voice to trick the manager into transferring $243,000. Says Bhatia: “Fraudsters used voice-generating AI software to impersonate the boss of a German parent company owning a Uk-based firm.

In future, such frauds are going to evolve further. Fraudsters can stitch voice samples, and feed it in Ai-based technology software to get a voice to match the voice of the person being impersonated, for text of their choice.”

This kind of fraud has not yet reached India, but eventually could. This is known as Ai-based Vishing, a combination of 'voice' and 'phishing'.

According to the experts, those who offer this service will have to take primary responsibility to protect customers against cyber frauds. Says Anjana Dasgupta, partner, DSK Legal: “Under the RBI circular — Guidelines on Information Security, Electronic Banking, Technology Risk Management and Cyber Frauds — the roles and responsibilities of all the stakeholders from banks to system administrators and intermediary platforms have been spelt out clearly in relation to data protection and security controls.

Customers, on their part, can exercise a few precautions. Says Bhatia: “There is no separate anti-virus for voice assistants, hence it is imperative to not just have an anti-virus on your mobile phone, but also to have two-factor authentication for everything. You could use your fingerprint and app-specific lock password as well.” Adds Singh: “When the software or application is not in use, it should automatically go into Mute mode. The Alexa and Google Assistant should be used via secured APIS.”

Constant vigilance required:

A few years ago, a scam was doing the rounds where a fraudster/robocall asked you a closed-end question, making an attempt to get unsuspecting victims to say "yes" on a recorded line. This would then be used to verify approval of charges to the victim's phone bill, cable/internet bill, or credit card. Voice samples have been collected for a while now, at least in the international market, so no one knows the future.

With voice banking at a nascent stage in India, currently there is no voice biometrics as such. And with voice banking commands working via the linked internet banking itself, and secured by internet banking credentials and security measures, no separate security may be needed.