CaixaBank adapts its touchscreen POS terminals for the visually impaired

• In collaboration with ONCE (Spanish Organisation for the Blind), the bank has implemented a feature in 95% of its payment terminals using Android technology that allows visually impaired people to make purchases in stores with greater autonomy

• CaixaBank, which was the first bank to launch a Braille financial card in Spain, already has around 4,000 active Braille cards
• In the first quarter of 2025, it will launch a video interpretation service in sign language throughout its branch network to serve customers with hearing disabilities

As part of its commitment to accessibility for the visually impaired, CaixaBank has adapted its new generation of touchscreen POS terminals with a new feature developed in collaboration with ONCE. This service, which was launched at the end of 2023, will make it easier for the visually impaired to make purchases in a safer way in stores using Android operating system payment terminals (buttonless touchscreen card readers). Traditional payment terminals, on the other hand, have raised buttons so that visually impaired people can identify the numbers.

On the first anniversary of the service's launch, the financial institution already has more than 310,000 POS terminals with this functionality, 95% of touchscreen payment terminals. This service increases the autonomy of people that cannot read the numbers on the screens of the touchscreen POS terminals provided to establishments, thus minimising the need to depend on other people to make payments and enter their PIN.

As a result, the bank reinforces the security of payments made by the visually impaired. This functionality activates "Accessible Mode" on the POS terminal by tapping twice on the button on the bottom left corner of the payment screen. Once activated, a voiceover informs the customer of the amount to pay and gives instructions on how to pay by card.

If the transaction requires a PIN, a special screen will appear where a voiceover gives instructions on how to enter their passcode.

In addition, CaixaBank, through its subsidiary specialising in payment methods, CaixaBank Payments & Consumer, already has around 4,000 active Braille cards.

The financial institution launched Spain's first Visa card with Braille reading and writing code in May 2022 in order to make it easier for the visually impaired to make purchases in all kinds of stores without having to rely on other people.

The solution, developed in collaboration with ONCE, applies to all types of cards issued by the bank: Credit cards (including MyCard), debit cards and prepaid cards.

First bank to offer a sign language service

As part of its commitment to the hearing impaired, in the first quarter of 2025, CaixaBank will also launch a sign language video interpretation service throughout its branch network.

It is also the first bank to launch a new service in its branches called SVisual, which allows hearing impaired customers to receive information on financial services through a simultaneous video interpreting system in sign language delivered by a qualified interpreter.

The initiative was launched in the last quarter of 2024, as a pilot, in 120 of the bank's branches throughout all of Spain’s Autonomous Communities, and it is expected to be available across the entire CaixaBank branch network in the first three months of the year.

The service ensures that branch appointments with hearing-impaired people run smoothly, thus improving transparency, fostering the autonomy of this group and avoiding possible misunderstandings. SVisual can also be used to offer more complex investment and/or financing value propositions to the hearing impaired in a clear and concise manner.

SVisual is a free service. Those interested can request an appointment by sending an email to their branch manager, or can arrange it using the CaixaBankNow app.

CaixaBank's commitment to accessibility

CaixaBank understands accessibility in a broad sense, which means not only offering its customers the largest possible number of channels to access its products and services but also working to ensure that these channels can be used by the largest possible number of people. It therefore works to eliminate any physical and sensorial barriers that may prevent people with disabilities from accessing its facilities or its products and services.

In fact, most of CaixaBank's branches (86% at present) are fully accessible and apply the 'keep it flat' concept: no slopes and ramps and elevators installed to avoid uneven ground.

Moreover, 99% of the bank's ATM network is adapted for people with disabilities, including the option for the visually impaired to use the Braille keyboard and voice-guided navigation.

Accessibility also applies to its digital channels. For example, the CaixaBankNow mobile app offers colour contrast and font sizes suitable for people with low vision, as well as the option to activate voice navigation.

In addition, www.caixabank.es, the company's commercial portal, is the only site in the Spanish banking industry to have earned AA accessibility certification, according to the W3C-WAI guidelines for Web 2.0 content.