When a bank decides to give away free money, the task is so tough it takes a robot without any feelings to hand over the cash.
Metbank has hired Mr. Millennia, a walking, talking robot, to distribute free $5 bills today on Fifth Avenue to show potential customers it’s a bank with a human heart.
Passersby get their cash if they can answer one of Mr. Millennia’s questions correctly.
“The questions aren’t that hard,” said a spokesman for Mark DeFazio, president and CEO of Metbank.
Metbank didn’t say how much cash it would give to crowds at each of its four giveaways during the day. The one-hour giveaways are at 8:30 a.m., 10 a.m., noon and 4 p.m.
The robot’s question-and-answer banter will be aided with an unseen handler at wireless controls some distance away.
The bank is staging the event to mark the opening of its second Manhattan branch, at 16 W. 47th St. and Fifth Avenue.
Metbank aims at middle-market consumers who are neglected by giant banks.