Customers of UK’s Barclays Bank will soon be able to make payments via Siri, Apple’s built-in intelligent assistant. The new feature enables customers to tell Siri to make a payment without having to open the Barclays mobile banking app.
Apple Touch ID will serve as the payment authentication. Currently, payments can be made in GBP only, according to Barclays’ statement today.
Raheel Ahmed, head of customer experience and channels at Barclays, said in the release:
Barclays has a long history of introducing innovative new products and services to give our customers choice in how they bank. We recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of the world’s first ATM, which was introduced to provide customers with 24/7 access to their money for the first time ever. The introduction of Siri payments to mobile banking customers is another step forward, giving flexibility and greater choice for all our customers.
The announcement comes a week after Barclays said it would close 54 branches in the UK by yearend in an effort to cut costs.