HDFC Securities partners Google Home, Amazon Echo for voice assistant services

HDFC Securities Ltd, the financial services intermediary of private lender HDFC Bank, has integrated a new voice-based assistant, Arya, into Google Home and Amazon Echo to offer a self-serving digital service to its customers. 

“Customers are now looking for an omni channel and seamless on-demand experience. These voice skills will provide them with a self-service digital channel to interact with HDFC Securities. A customer can now get assistance for opening an account, get investment ideas in equity and mutual funds through Arya,” the company said in a statement. Arya will be available on HDFC Securities mobile trading app and website.

The company said it has partnered with Google to enable the internet giant’s assistant to offer voice-based information services on smartphones.

Consumers can simply call the assistant via Google Home and Amazon Echo devices to, say, open an account. “The user would get a request to share their mobile number, following which the account opening team would connect and initiate the user’s on-boarding process with HDFC Securities.”

It added that consumers can also call the assistant to get investment advice on stocks and mutual funds. If the user selects investment option in stocks, HDFC securities will present the user with the latest stock recommendations through Arya. The user will also have the option to go through the recommendations and invest accordingly.

“If the user chooses to invest, then a smart link will be sent across to the customer’s mobile number from where he can complete the transaction.”

In case of mutual funds, Arya will present the user with a choice to select schemes based on his or her investment needs. Once the selection is made, Arya will forward the link of Digify (HDFC Securities’ paperless mutual fund platform) on the user’s mobile to complete the transaction.

In April, HDFC Bank had deployed a humanoid robot, Intelligent Robotic Assistant, or IRA 2.0, to guide and interact with customers at its Bengaluru branch. The humanoid answers bank-related queries, frequently asked questions, and guide clients inside the branch using voice-based navigation. 

In late-2016, HDFC Bank had partnered with Rata Tata-backed startup Niki.ai to create a Facebook Messenger bot named HDFC Bank OnChat to help customers avail a number of services, including cab booking and mobile recharges.