The Royal Bank of Canada has enabled voice payments from personal current accounts. So now paying your way could be as easy as saying: “Siri, pay Chris 20 dollars.” The new money transfer service is available to RBC account holders through an update to the RBC Mobile app for iPhone and iPad.
And the process does sound remarkably straight forward. You give the voice command, Siri will then confirm the name from your payee list and the RBC Mobile app will automatically debit your bank account and send the payment. The payment is secure and protected by TouchID.
Sean Amato-Gauci, executive VP, Digital, Payments and Cards says: “It’s our goal to continue to be part of the everyday mobile experiences of our clients by adding more convenient and seamless ways to send money and bank with RBC. Building on the explosive growth of our free person-to-person payments products, we’re excited to provide the ability for our clients to now send free money transfers from their checking accounts using Siri.”
It seems likely that there will be limits and safeguards (rather like with contactless cards) to ensure that you don’t accidentally drain your bank account but Touch ID adds a significant layer of security. But inevitably there is bound to be some amusing cock-up or misunderstanding.
