Nedbank has unveiled Avo, a digital platform that provides users of its smartphone banking app with access to a range of online products and services from merchants.

The app has been launched in response to the limitations that people are subjected to due to the Covid-19 lockdown, providing a virtual environment in which they can purchase product and services “through powerful artificial intelligence, safe and secure payments, and bank-grade security”, the bank said in a statement on Tuesday.

Avo is built on Nedbank’s API Marketplace, a platform aligned to open banking standards, it said.

Nedbank chief information officer Fred Swanepoel said Avo is designed to bring customers and businesses together, matching customers’ lifestyle needs to product and service offerings through AI. The bank has filed eight provisional patents related to the platform.

The beta version of Avo has been delivering essential goods, providing home entertainment and connecting home service providers, mainly to the bank’s employees, Nedbank said in the statement.

It has signed up 170 home repair and services merchants so far, with more to be added.

Nedbank has begun seeding the beta release of Avo to Money App users as part of a phased release of the software to clients. This, it said, will allow for further enhancements before “full public launch”. — © 2020 NewsCentral Media