Скачать или смотреть Robot concierge and facial recognition unveiled in Shanghai bank

(23 Apr 2018) LEADIN:
A state-owned Chinese bank has opened an automated branch touting facial recognition software, a virtual reality room, a hologram machine and robots that can talk.
The branch in Shanghai is being hyped as the first "personless bank" in China. Its operator, Beijing-based China Construction Bank, says it's meant to make banking more convenient, personalized, and efficient.
STORYLINE:
Welcome to the future of banking where everything is fully automated.
Beijing-based China Construction Bank says it's new high-tech branch in Shanghai is meant to make banking more convenient, personalized, and efficient. It also reflects growing competition from cashless payment systems that are giving the banks a run for their money.
A robot greets customers at the entrance and answers questions using voice recognition software.
Clients can swipe their national identification cards to enter the bank - or scan their faces using the bank's facial recognition device. Machines inside allow visitors to buy gold, change currency, or scout real estate investments using virtual reality goggles.
The bank isn't totally unstaffed. Guards are still present, and a room equipped with teleconference software allows VIP clients to request help from human employees based elsewhere.
News of the newfangled bank spread rapidly online, drawing throngs of curious observers.
"I saw the bank on WeChat (a smartphone app), and we just happened to be in Shanghai, so I dropped by to take a look. It seems like it's very convenient and capable, and this robot's language and technological abilities are really good, much better than I had imagined," says visitor Li Xiaoqing.
"These days, people are less and less likely to be inclined to want other people to come and bother them," Tian says. "We hope to come to a bank where we can interact with machines," adds Tian Ting, a finance worker.
Banking technologist Li Linfeng, who was scouting the bank for Shenzhen-based Ping An Insurance, says he didn't think the bank's implementation of technology was particularly thoughtful. Older folk would likely need human help navigating such cutting-edge equipment, he says.
"When you're exploring these technologies, you shouldn't just pay attention to the technology itself, but how people can interact with these technologies," Li says. "Technology has to serve us, not leave people behind."
State-owned China Construction Bank, founded in 1954 to fund large scale infrastructure projects, is the second largest bank worldwide as measured by assets, and seems an unlikely tech pioneer.
Analysts say the bank is responding to pressure from internet giants like Alibaba and Tencent, which are transforming Chinese consumer finance with mobile applications that enable people to transfer money and pay for goods using their smartphones.
"These days, everyone is talking about banking or financial innovation," says You Tianyu, vice president of research at iYiou, a technology think tank. "This is kind of an experiment, a shot in the dark, trying to prove that traditional banks, too, can innovate."
The trend toward automation is not new. Retailers in China and elsewhere have been tinkering with automated supermarkets and convenience stores, and Bank of America last year piloted three automated banks in the U.S., calling them "advanced centers." It now has 14 such branches, featuring ATMs and videoconferencing capabilities.
Still, the China Construction Bank branch takes technology a step further, with You and others citing its face-scanning abilities as a breakthrough.

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