Adding further proof that telepresence has reached nearly industry, Citizens Financial Group on Wednesday launched a video banking pilot program to provide select customers with real-time, face-to-face interaction with banking specialists from around the globe.

The banking pilot program is currently available at 16 Citizens and Charter One branches in the Illinois, Massachusetts, Long Island and Philadelphia areas. Customers who take part in the initiative will have access to banking, mortgage and wealth management experts, according to a company release.

In addition, these customers should be able to complete their transactions and banking processes much more quickly. As an example, mortgage customers who use the video banking program won't be forced to wait for follow-up appointments or for the delivery of signed agreements.

"We know that convenience and access to information is important to customers," Theresa McLaughlin, Group Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, noted in a statement.

"We believe this advanced video banking technology brings great value to our customers at participating branches, allowing them to instantly connect live with lending and wealth management specialists in other locations, putting our customers in control of when and how they bank," she added.

The program is made possible by Cisco's (News - Alert) Remote Expert telepresence technology and Syngrafii Corp.’s LongPen signature solution.

The partnership between Cisco and Syngrafii has enabled Citizens Financial Group to eliminate the need for customers to mail signed agreements back to banking specialists when they are not in the same physical location. Instead, banking customers can use the collaborative solution's "wet" technology to ink highly secure agreements while being hundreds of miles away.

Citizens Financial Group's video banking pilot program comes on the heels of the launch of its free mobile banking app, dubbed accessMOBILE, which allows business and commercial customers to make payments and manage their account while on-the-go.

Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Juliana Kenny