Nordea Bank Poland makes its internet service Available to the poor-sighted and the blind
2007-11-19
Nordea Bank Poland is the first bank in Poland to have implemented solutions facilitating the use of the bank’s website and the e-banking system to the poor-sighted and the blind.
“Nearly a third of the 6 million handicapped living in Poland suffers from an eyesight dysfunction. Most of them have not been able to use the Internet the same way as fully-fit people do”, says Włodzimierz Kiciński, President of Nordea Bank Poland. “Such discomfort was also felt in contact with financial institutions. Thanks to Nordea Bank’s innovative project, the blind and the poor-sighted now have been enabled to have a convenient contact with the bank and to perform such seemingly trivial actions as checking the account balance, place a term deposit or effect a credit transfer, without leaving their homes, using their Internet-connected computer.
The bank’s website has been adjusted to the international recommendations defining the method of adaptation of web pages for the purposes of the handicapped – the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). This makes it possible to use Nordea Bank Poland’s Internet service with the use of the so called screen-readers, that is programs converting text into speech.
Nordea Bank provides its customers who have eyesight dysfunction with a free dedicated computer program – a talking web browser called Intelligent Web Reader, developed by the Gdynia-based IVO Software company. To start the browser, one just needs to put a specially prepared CD-ROM disk, supplied by the bank, into the drive.
All the components making up the content of the bank’s website are read aloud by the Intelligent Web Reader after being pointed to by the user. Also, the piece of information read by the program is also displayed in large font in a special window at the bottom of the screen. Many activities connected with the selection of the right piece of information or a transaction can be effected by keying in simple keyboard shortcuts.
The Intelligent Web Reader uses innovative artificial intelligence algorithms enabling it to recognize the layout of a website, which it communicates to the user, along with the content of the page, by voice. presents to the user. The solution ensures access to the information contained in the page quite the same way a seeing views it.
With the people with eyesight dysfunction in mind, the bank’s website www.nordea.pl was fitted with an extensive set of audio files. Thanks to that, for example, contents of the rules or important documents can be played back by the user.
The solution employed by the bank is as secure as a traditional transactional service. As part of the development of the functionality of the system, Nordea Bank has implemented a new type of access code cards. The handicapped users of electronic bank accounts will receive special cards with imprinted codes in Braille, instead of the usual scratch-off code cards. Such customers can also use the services of the Call Centre, specially designed to accommodate their needs. The Call Centre staff have been given special training to prepare them for work with the handicapped.
The bank’s website has received its new functionality thanks to Nordea Bank’s collaboration with the Gdynia-based IVO Software company, which is a world leader in the production of speech synthesizing software. The speech synthesizing technology developed by IVO is recognised as one of the best in the world, which is proved by numerous awards and distinctions. During the prestigious international Blizzard Challenge competition in 2006 and 2007, the quality of the voice generated by the IVO synthesizer was deemed to be the closest to the natural human voice.