BBVA integrates its financial services into social and messaging networks
BBVA customers can now interact in Spain with the bank via social networks and instant messaging services. BBVA has developed two new tools, Chatbot and BBVA Cashup, which allow customers to access financial information via Facebook and Telegram, and also to make payments via Bizum from Whatsapp or any messaging service.
Use of such communication channels is constantly increasing, especially among the younger generation. Specifically, according to the latest report by IAB Spain, nearly 20 million Spaniards use social networks, and 86% of Internet users access Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Twitter or Instagram at least once a day.
BBVA plans to make it easier for its customers to execute daily transactions such as queries and payments without leaving their social networks. This will allow them to save time since they will be able to execute financial transactions from their favourite apps and messaging services without needing to open or install a new application.
BBVA’s push to develop functionalities and services for its customers earns top spot in Forrester Research’s 2017 European Mobile Banking Benchmark. Forrester underscored the intensity and speed at which BBVA has made progress over the past two years in the digital arena, as well as the broad variety of transactional functionalities and marketing and sales initiatives enabled by the app.
The first chatbot in Spain with personalised customer information
For the first time in Spain, chatbot allows customers to consult financial information via Telegram or Facebook such as their available account balance summaries, their IBANs, or the remaining credit on their cards. With this pioneering tool, BBVA has taken a further step in its process of developing intelligent services.
Until now, such operations could only be conducted via BBVA Wallet, www.bbva.es, or the BBVA app, but they are now included in customers’ social network and messaging services, allowing customers to integrate services. In addition, chatbot allows customers to access standard services to locate the nearest ATM, contact BBVA via telephone, or enter BBVA’s mobile banking app.
Chatbot is linked to the official BBVA website (www.bbva.es) and, so, in order to access it via Facebook Messenger, customers need only find the @bbva_espana link or go directly to BBVA Spain. In order to obtain access via Telegram, customers need only find the @bbva_esp_bot contact. In addition, Facebook Messenger has the advantage of allowing customers to contact an operator if they should have any questions.
BBVA Cashup: send money and chat at the same time
BBVA customers now also have BBVA Cashup available to them. With this service, the bank has not only made great progress toward integrating its operations into social networks, but has also made making mobile payments easier.
This new service allows customers to send money to any contact instantly, and do so securely, without having to leave their chat, no matter whether they are within Whatsapp, Telegram, Hangouts, Messenger, or another messaging service. All they need to do is hit the BBVA Cashup key, choose the payee, input the amount, and hit “send”.
Since this is an instantaneous money transfer, the payee will receive a message in his or her messaging application. Nevertheless, the payee must be registered with the Bizum payment service.