Hang Seng Bank clinches Technology Excellence Awards for AI – Banking and E-Commerce Banking

Hong Kong Business honoured Asia's leading companies in technology innovation during the inaugural Technology Excellence Awards (TEA) last February 27 2019.

The winners were outstanding companies who have made exceptional contributions through the most innovative and unique IT initiatives and solutions that enhanced their company's business in Hong Kong.

Tech companies eligible for the recognition were those that pioneered ground-breaking IT products and solutions as well as tech firms with the most innovative technology initiatives that made an impact to their businesses.

Hang Seng Bank won two awards at the Technology Excellence Awards for Banking. The first award was for Hang Seng Business Banking’s Virtual Assistant, BERI (Business, Efficient, Responsive, Interactive). BERI makes use of artificial intelligence and programming to provide banking information for customer enquiries. Customers can "talk" to BERI through their desktops or their mobile phones. BERI uses the Natural Language Processing technology to precisely interpret customers and to respond accordingly to uplift the customer experience and satisfaction in a timely fashion.

BERI provides 24-7 non-stop service via desktop and mobile service platforms. It supports Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and English. BERI also contains four human-like response functions such as “Parameters collection during the conversation,” “Humanity response with lively tone and manner,” “Understanding Emoji input to understand users’ emotional response,” and “Intelligence on language seamless switching.” These features ensure that BERI can understand the “intent” of the customer.

The second award was given to Hang Seng for its all-in-one payment collection service called Hang Seng One Collect. The service is already available in over 700 merchant outlets and over 1,000 Hang Seng One Collect terminals which enabling stores to accept a wide range of contactless and QR code payment methods like Alipay, WeChat Pay, MasterCard and CUP QR code payment as well as the Hang Seng mobile Cash Dollar redemption through one integrated point-of-sale (POS) terminal. Hang Seng One Collect supports five transaction models including QR code, NFC, Chip Card, Mobile Payment and traditional stripe card and four ways of merchant connectivity via WIFI, Bluetooth, Sim Card and TCPIP. It enables merchants to receive payments wirelessly and offer their customers a fast and convenient service experience.

Major industries such as the luxuries goods retailer, jewellery and watch industry, catering industry, retailing industry, telecommunication industry, and taxi industry are already under the Hang Seng One Collect system. Hang Seng One Collect Service also supports all the reports, fund settlement, and afterward services to facilitate the control effectiveness and efficiency. The new service will be progressively rolled out to several thousand outlets in 2019.

The Technology Excellence Awards (TEA), presented by Hong Kong Business, was held on February 27 at the Conrad Hong Kong.

This year's nominations were judged by a panel consisting of Bong Chan, Southern Region Leader (China TMT Industry) of Deloitte China, Jason Yau, Partner (Technology and Management Consulting) of RSM Hong Kong, Douglas Kwan, Partner (Assurance and Advisory Services) of SHINEWING (HK) CPA Limited, John Poon, Head of Accounting and Outsourcing Solutions of Mazars Hong Kong, and Jonathan Chu, Partner of Stephenson Harwood.

If you would like to join the 2020 awards and be awarded as one of the region's top tech companies, please email Julie Anne Nunez at [email protected] or contact +65 3158 1386 ext. 221.