CIBC Launches Global Money Transfer Chatbot Remi
Another one of the big five Canadian banks is turning to digital assistants to help their customers.
CIBC has announced the launch of Remi, a Facebook Messenger chatbot designed to help the bank’s clients send no-fee global money transfers (GMT). Remi helps customers keep track of exchange rates, be alerted when a currency begins to fluctuate, and receive answers to product questions.
One of the more exciting aspects of Remi is the ability to set a currency rate that the user wants to trade at, then receive an alert once it reaches that point. No more checking multiples times a day every week to find the lowest price—Remi will send a ping when that exchange is as low as necessary for the transaction.
“We are excited about the way Remi is making it easier to manage sending money abroad,” says Vineet Malhotra, head of alternate solutions group and retail solutions group at CIBC. “You’ll always know exactly how much money you’re sending and the exchange rate you’ll receive, all without upfront fees.”
Users can even set Remi up to send money as soon as the exchange rate hits the acceptable threshold, eliminating the need to even log on and execute the action.
GMT from CIBC launched just over two years ago and lets clients send money to over 50 different countries without fees. Some of the most recent countries added to that list include Mexico, South Korea, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.
One thing about Remi that stands out is it was developed in-house through CIBC’s Live Labs, the bank’s technology incubator housed at the MaRS Discovery District. Often banks will acqui-hire or partner with fintech companies to develop new technologies like Remi, with examples including TD and Kasisto, ATB Financial and Finn.ai, or RBC and Wave.
Other projects developed at CIBC Live Labs include voice authentication for banking, enhanced security through new verification methods, and app integration with wearables such as the Apple Watch.
At the beginning of November, CIBC launched the transition of their existing PC Financial customers to Simplii, a new direct banking brand.
