Ripple, the operator of fast-growing global payment network RippleNet, snatched an ex-Facebook staffer for a senior role. She was involved in the launch of Citi's chatbot in Singapore.
Ripple is hiring Facebook executive Kahina Van Dyke as its senior vice president of business and corporate development, the company said in a press statement. An expert in social media and financial services technologies, she is tasked with finding new partnerships for Ripple, the tech firm said.
In Van Dyke's nearly three years at Facebook, she was involved in helping banks adopt Facebook's messenger service. Citi recently said it would roll out a chatbot linked to Facebook in Hong Kong that it introduced in Singapore last year.
Chatty Banks
While other banks in the region have launched app-based chatbots for customer inquiries, Citi’s is the first Facebook messenger-embedded chatbot to let customers ask questions about their own financial records and rewards, as reported earlier in finews.asia.
Singapore-based banks have also been quick to launch their own customer-facing chatbots. DBS Bank released its POSB digibank Virtual Assistant chatbot on Facebook Messenger in January last year, and OCBC Bank has launched its artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, Emma.
A Fit For Ripple
Van Dyke joins Ripple at a time when the young company is increasingly viewed as a challenger to Swift, the dominant global payment messenger service. The ex-Citi banker understands banks' needs to balance compliance and risk-management requirements, with gaining access to cheap and secure global payment services.
«Companies and individuals need to move small and large amounts of money faster and at lower cost, and they need a system that is more nimble and transparent than one built for the large corporate payouts of decades past,» said Van Dyke, who spent six years as MasterCard's head of global initiatives before joining Facebook.
