China Construction Bank opens a branch managed by robots
After unstaffed convenience stores and cashier-less karaoke booths, now China Construction Bank opens a branch in Shanghai run by ‘smiling’ robots
After the introduction of unstaffed convenience stores and cashier-less karaoke booths, self-service bank branches now look like they are becoming a reality.
China Construction Bank (CCB), the nation’s second largest lender by assets, opened one in Shanghai this week, run by pure technology including facial recognition (FR), artificial intelligent (AI) and virtual reality (VR).
Hyped as a first for the Chinese banking industry, the Beijing-based bank says it has already installed 1,600 smart machines at its 360 branches in the city to ramp up its appeal to tech-savvy customers and trim staff costs.
Walking through the front door of the branch, users first meet a friendly looking robot that answers inquiries via voice recognition.
The 165 square metre ground floor outlet on Jiujiang Road in Huangpu district is equipped with several smart automated tellers capable of a range of services, including account opening, money transfer, foreign exchange, gold investment and the issue of wealth management products.