All of us are familiar with banks expanding their network and opening branches in many cities, but ASB (News - Alert) claims- in what is thought to be a world-first- that it has expanded its network with its online 'Virtual Branch' by launching a real-time, person-to-person, banking application on Facebook (News - Alert).

Customer interaction is said to be of the highest level at this Virtual Branch, where the Facebook application offers, real-time, secure and confidential conversations through its virtual customer service.

Unlike other banks, which are closed at least one day in a week, this Virtual Bank is open from 8am to 9pm seven days a week for service to all members of the public, wherever they can access Facebook.

ASB General Manager Internet Banking, Anna Curzon, said that ASB had always been committed to supporting customers, regardless of where they were.   

Recognizing that New Zealanders were increasingly using social media, almost as if it were embedded to the fabric of their daily lives, the addition of the ASB Virtual Bank would allow customers and potential customers to connect with the bank in the way that they preferred, whether it be by branch, the Contact Center, mobile banking, ASB's FastNet Internet banking or now the ASB Virtual Branch on Facebook. 

The success of the Twitter Account that ASB had opened a year ago and which currently had more than 1,200 followers, had become a valuable channel for ASB to interact with the online community, with customers and the general public.

ASB expected the same or even greater success with its Virtual Branch on Facebook, which seems to have generated a lot of interest since the launching of the official ASB Facebook page and numerous interactions.

Ms Curzon says the ASB Virtual Branch is being launched on an initial trial basis to gauge customer interest. It will offer the same excellent service that customers experience through our other ASB channels, offering secure conversations with a range of banking specialists.

It was expected that ASB's Internet banking services FastNet Classic and FastNet Business would still be the primary channels for most online transactions, and it also expected that the Virtual Bank would work alongside FastNet by providing confidential banking service on the various products and services.

Curzon added that the Virtual Branch would deal with all the activities associated with its contact center, and believed that the 'first-time ever' application on Facebook was an exciting venture and they looked forward expectantly to working in collaboration with its customers to determine what their needs were and what they wanted from ASB in the social media.

ASB's Virtual Branch is staffed by a dedicated team from our branch network, located at ASB's New- Zealand-based Contact Center.