Speaking at IBM’s Think Summit, UBank’s Lee Hatton said technology gave the bank the ability to deliver on its mandate.
“If you take our opportunity and our mandate which is to permanently disrupt the banking industry, and MIA or AI has allowed us to bring out these new banking economies,” she said.
MIA is UBank’s new virtual assistant, but Ms Hatton said it was a vital part of the UBank team.
“We took the opportunity to take MIA to the next level to answer customers’ questions from the comfort of their homes. Giving them the experimentation and fun of experiencing a virtual assistant in a different way,” Ms Hatton said.
MIA grew out of UBank’s other AI programs, Robobrain and Robochat, Ms Hatton said. Together, they empower customers and employees.
“People shouldn’t be intimidated by the future of AI and that’s why we really want to make sure we’re using these tools now.
“It changes your culture because people are less intimidated by the opportunity and can see the future skills that will be required,” she said.
UBank was born out of being a disruptor at NAB, Ms Hatton said, and that mission changed the way the company saw itself.
“It’s always great to have a vision, and for UBank we took that and said we wanted to be the most referenced brand in Australia. We have removed the mentality of being a bank and put the customer at the center of what we want to be here for and what we stand for,” she said.
Part of this was giving employees time back through the use of AI so that everyone in the building could discuss the future of banking.
“It’s not unusual to talk about what the next five years will look like or what should we focus on today for tomorrow, but you have to take advantage of that ability and invite people to come and share their perspectives to really think about what the future may hold,” she says.
For Ms Hatton, the future of the bank could well be a fully-fledged cognitive bank which would see increased development of products and tools.
“Cognitive banking that prevents people from not necessarily serving customers, but designing products and services for them in a way that anonymizes banking and empowers people to be part of a system of things they choose to do every day,” she said. .
