In a bid to ease the stress of their customers, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has added new features to its Artificial Intelligence chatbot, Leo, to Google Business Chat and Instagram.
Unveiled in January 2018, Leo is designed to enable customers to use their social media accounts to carry out key banking transactions.
As a leading African financial institution, UBA noted that Leo has been repositioned for customers to now carry out their activities in a 3D animated format.
Over the years, Leo evolved to become a custom-fitted, personalised virtual banker to several UBA customers across 20 African countries. Before now, UBA’s Leo was servicing customers on Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp and Apple Chat.
Some of the benefits of the upgrade is that customers can carry out more activities such as funds transfer, checking balances, buying airtime and data, and getting their bank statements with ease, from any of these social media platforms.
Speaking on the upgraded features of Leo, the GMD/CEO, UBA Plc., Kennedy Uzoka, said, “UBA is always on the lookout for innovative ways to develop strategies aimed at easing transactions for the bank’s numerous users, while ensuring utmost safety of their transactions.
“At UBA, we have been working with technology giants that have the global capacity to ensure not only seamless but also effortless banking for millions of our customers across Africa.
He affirmed that at UBA, they have collaborated with the very best to actualise this unbeatable innovation that is capable of revolutionising the way banking is done in Africa.
Uzoka listed further that Leo’s activities have aptly spread across Africa, changing the face of e-banking in other key African locations.
They include Cameroon, Zambia, Côte D’Ivoire, Senegal, Congo DRC, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Gabon, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Benin, Mozambique, Zambia, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Mali.
According to the GMD, the uniqueness of Leo lies in its convenience. Customers can initiate transactions without leaving their favoured phone applications.
By bringing Leo to the comfort zone of its customers, he continued, UBA’s chat banking became a pioneer innovation and has since enjoyed leadership status in the chat banking space.
“Without mincing words, it is noteworthy that since inception, Leo has been effortlessly enhancing the digital customer experience in banking and also achieving a range of other benefits like 24/7 availability.
“The chatbot Leo stays available round the clock to assist customers and handle the common financial queries asked by the customers,” says Uzoka.