If you use the RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) online app they have a new mandatory identity verification requirement for etransferring an amount of money. For me it is$1500. The app requires you to enter your bank card pin on a keyboard which is unusable with Voiceover. This is in addition to the finger print verification I just used to sign into the app. Etransferring money from a web browser is still accessible, only requiring me to sign into the app and review the transfer, not enter the inaccessible pin. When I talked to an adviser they gave me no way other than the web browser to possibly overcome the verification, no certainty that this solution will even work and no leniency on the policy which voids fraud protection if you give your pin to anyone else, even a relative. I hope the Royal Bank of Canada fixes this absurdity and lets users of Voiceover transfer money again. In the mean time without a usable computer web browser we may have to go to a branch to do so accessibly. This is a disappointing surprise since the Royal Bank has been very progressive with accessibility, they were one of the first banks here to get talking ATMs in the early 2000's.
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The last time I did an…
The last time I did an etransfer on the site, it was absolutely accessible. You're right about the iOS app not being so, and I'm currently working on finding out who I need to scream at to have that problem resolved.
Let me tell you a joke about accessibility design in banks.
In our country, more and more banks are now adding a so-called barrier-free design to the iOS APP, which means that you must wear headphones before you can enter the password. Otherwise, the password keyboard will be completely disabled when VoiceOver is turned on. Invalid. Do you think it's funny?
I'm actually a Senior Digital Advisor there
Hi everyone. I actually work for RBC as a senior digital advisor, and I've been talking about this inaccessibility since the feature was rolled out.
This is how it has been explained to me, and I know RBC is working on what to do about it:
RBC currently implements two possibilities for step-up authentication when sending and Etransfer over $1500:
1. IDV - you need to take a picture of your passport or driver's licence or passport, then take a selfie to match the two. Your face has to match exactly, and your name must be the same as what we have on file. As you can imagine, this is not super accessible, especially considering provincial IDs are currently not supported.
2. Pin entry. If you're using an IOS device, you need to put your pin number in, and if you're using an Android, you must first tap your card and do the same. The reason this is not currently accessible is because it uses Apple's built in pin pad apparently. Not the one we use when unlocking our phones, but the pin pad for purchases. For some reason this is not accessible with voiceover. This is, as I understand it, an apple problem, not an RBC one. While screen recognition will make most of it accessible, it was recently brought to my attention that the 9, 0 back and confirm buttons are not recognized. I know RBC is currently looking at alternatives. Currently we can work around this in the following ways:
If you schedule your Etransfer for the following day, or if you have your recipient request the money instead, you can avoid the authentication process so long as you are sending $1500 and below. Of course this is not the most convenient option given how bloody expensive rent is these days. I do suggest you call us and express your dissatisfaction with this limitation. DO it respectfully because we are human and it's not the fault of anyone you're dealing with, but request to register a complaint. The more complaints we get, the more likey things will change. I've worked here for many years and I've seen it happen. RBC does take its complaints seriously if they consistantly get ones about certain features.
The reason RBC has impleemented this authorization feature is because it has increased its etransfer and International Money Transfer limits, and because of a need for greater security due to fraud, scams and financial abuse. That is an unholy trinity that is costing millions of dollars of people's money, and after implementing this feature, we've seen fraud calls drop significantly. It sucks, but so does losing your hard earned money.