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Phone banking booms in HK

The Young Reporter (1994, January 17), 26(04), pp. 8.
Author: Venus Lee.
Permanent URL - https://sys01.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/bujspa/purl.php?&did=bujspa0001999

By VENUS LEE

THE scene with a long queue waiting for banks’ counter services in Hongkong may not be often seen in the coming years.

With more popular use of “Bank-By-Phone”, customers could use a bank’s service directly through an assigned telephone pass code.

The “Bank-By-Phone” service, which could handle more inquiries within a short period of time, was introduced early in 1989.

However, to use this system, customers must have a tone phone instead of a pulse phone, which was widely used at that time.

The recent change of most of Hongkong’s telephone lines from analog to digital system will make possible the widespread use of “Bank-By-Phone” .

This service is provided through the bank’s central computer system in order to pick up more incoming calls and ensure privacy.

One of the users of the system, Mr Nelson Cheng Chun-leung said, “the computer is always ‘polite’ .

“Most of the operators answer the customers’ questions impatiently during rush hours,” he said.

And Mr Cheng added that the use of a confidential personal identification number ensured the security of his transactions.

Another user, Miss Iris Lee, said the system allowed her to use bank service at any time in any places with a phone.

Miss Elsa Lam Yuen-ching, the system analyst of one of the few computer companies in Hongkong designing these kinds of programs for the banks, said nearly all banks have already employed this system.

A spokesman of Chase Manhattan Bank, said the system, introduced in March 1990, saved the cost of training and recruitment of personnel involved in the customer services.

Chase’s bank services range from general account inquiry, statement, checking interest rate, credit payment and autopay to specific services like fixed-deposit rollover and foreign exchange information inquiries.

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