IN a UK banking first, Barclays has announced a service where deaf or hard of hearing customers will be able to have their telephone conversations with the bank interpreted by a lipspeaker: a hearing person who can provide communication support by being easily lip read.
With over 11 million people in the UK experiencing hearing loss, these developments will make sure all customers are able to access telephone banking services more easily.
Once a customer has set up this service, a unique marker will be attached to their profile and they will be able to use a lipspeaker to have conversations with Barclays telephone bankers.
Kathryn Townsend, head of customer and client accessibility at Barclays UK, said: “Barclays puts accessibility at the heart of what we do, and places a lot of importance on getting this right for customers.
“The introduction of this new service for deaf and hard of hearing customers provides another example of where we have listened to our customers, and made changes based on their feedback.”
Customers can opt in to the service at any time by letting Barclays know they use a lipspeaker and providing a nominated mobile number for telephone banking.
Through the use of additional security steps, the service can only be used in the presence of the customer, providing them with greater independence whilst reducing the risk of fraud.
For customers who aren’t registered, Barclays also has a Live Chat facility within the Barclays Mobile Banking app, providing a secure instant-messaging service to help customers access their banking anywhere, anytime.
Ellie Parfitt, the Barclays customer who helped develop this new service, said: “It gives us freedom to become more independent and makes our banking experiences easier and more accessible.”
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