BSP BOB Chatbot: Your Techy Companion For All Finance-Related Problems

2 min read By eCompareMo on August 20, 2020

Just recently, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) announced that it’s more than ready to use technological solutions to address the public’s concerns through BSP Online Buddy, or BOB, a chatbot designed by the central bank to easily make note of people’s complaints.

The platform, which was pilot-tested last month, will provide the bank with the automated tools to process complaints about any financial entity under the authority of the BSP. This includes banks, pawnshops, digital wallets, and other private entities concerned with money.

Developed by the BSP’s Center for Learning and Inclusion Advocacy (CLIA), the chatbot’s system is robust enough to efficiently handle large volumes of queries from Filipinos.

Using tech-driven tools like artificial intelligence and natural language processing, BOB can interact in English, Filipino, or Taglish—and eventually become more efficient in it as it learns from the customers using the platform.

Read: BSP Financial Inclusion Survey: 51.2 Million Filipinos Are Still Unbanked

BSP Online Buddy also to provide insights on institutions’ performance

Speaking of learning, using BOB to lodge your complaints will also provide valuable insights to the BSP.

By collecting the information they receive through the chatbot, the central bank will get to know customers even better, use their experience to gauge the performance of BSP-supervised institutions, and allow the agency to enact policies that will address the most common pain points in a consumer journey.

According to BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno, BOB will provide Filipinos the opportunity to become more participative with their finances. By giving them the platform to raise their issues, they will become more involved and become more financially literate in turn.

“Aside from enhancing BSP’s quality of service, BOB empowers financial consumers by giving them a more accessible channel for raising complaints. This is in line with BSP’s commitment to pursue innovations in financial services for the benefit of Filipinos,” Diokno said.

“With its ability to provide adequate responses and to automatically refer concerns to the BSFI concerned for action, the chatbot also enables the BSP to gain valuable insights into customer experiences and banking practices,” the central bank said in a statement.

How to use BSP BOB chatbot

There are three ways you can take advantage of
the central bank Online Buddy, namely:

1. Through BSP’s website: just go to the https://www.bsp.gov.ph/ and look for the BSP webchat
2. Via SMS: send your complaints to 21582277 for Globe/TM subscribers (availability for other networks soon)
3. Using BSP’s official Facebook page
   (@BangkoSentralngPilipinas): Just send a message on their Facebook page

What does this mean for everyone? Highly likely, you’ve seen horror stories about customers complaining about their current banking provider. From fraud to policies that are deemed anti-consumer, it is difficult to get your point across banks and actually win your case.

Read: When Is It Safe To Share Your Sensitive Personal Information Online?

Aside from that, the pandemic also makes it more difficult for customer support centers continue their operations.

With fears of the coronavirus present everywhere, it’s understandable that some agencies won’t be able to handle customer complaints. Unfortunately, they don’t stop even when people are staying home.

Through BOB, the BSP can narrow the gap between customer issues on financial entities and the potential solutions to their problem. By creating a platform that can be accessed via multiple means and learns from its interactions, the agency will be able to service people better.

That is one big step towards better financial literacy and inclusion in the Philippines.