Citizens Financial Group Launches 4-State Video Banking Pilot

Citizens Financial Group launched a video banking pilot program in four states that will give customers access to banking specialists outside of their local branch.

The technology, powered by Cisco's Remote Expert TelePresence solution, along with LongPen's signature solution, will be deployed in 16 branches in Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

"The video banking pilot is a further step forward in our commitment to providing customers with greater access to innovative products and solutions that help them bank when, where and how they want," said Martin Bischoff, vice chairman, who heads Consumer and Business Banking at Citizens Financial Group. "Face-to-face interaction plays an important role in these communications. Video banking is an innovative banking solution that makes us more convenient than ever before in these markets by instantly connecting our customers with knowledgeable bank specialists and providing them with the tools to make financial decisions."

The video banking pilot will give customers access to mortgage and wealth management bankers. Citizens Financial says video banking will in some cases speed up the process of remotely initiating a mortgage application, as consumers won't have to wait for follow-up after initiating the process, but instead have access to an actual banker in that field.

"We know that convenience and access to information is important to customers," said Theresa McLaughlin, group executive vice president and chief marketing officer. "We believe this advanced video banking technology brings great value to our customers at participating branches, allowing them to instantly connect live with lending and wealth management specialists in other locations, putting our customers in control of when and how they bank."