5 ways to use conversational artificial intelligence in banking

Customer support​

Setting up a chatbot to answer repetitive customer questions such as: What is the BIC code?  and Where can I find my routing number? is a no-brainer for any bank.

These questions come in at high volumes, they’re easy to recognize and the answers are relatively simple– usually, a short text, link or image can answer the user’s question.

Let’s assume that What is the BIC code? represents 5% of the incoming questions. If you use a bot to automate that answer, you reduce your incoming question volume by 5%. FAQs are a great area to start with for your MVP (minimum viable product) because even with a small scope of ~20 intents, you can immediately experience the benefits of automation by reducing the volume of incoming questions and the time spent by your customer support agents answering them.

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Plus, most customer support tools Sparkcentral, Zendesk, Freshdesk, etc.) have out-of-the-box connections to chatbot building software, so you can keep your existing technology stack.

‍KBC’s Kate is one of our favorite customer support chatbots automating conversations in the financial industry.

Data capture​

Another area where banks tend to lose a lot of time is during data capture flows. Many financial procedures require additional information before completing a request. Sometimes asking for a user’s name, birthday and email can take up to 10 min. By using a virtual assistant to automate the data capture, you avoid having your agent wait for the customer to respond and the customer wait around to have the agent ask the next question. It’s a win-win for both sides!

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Some typical baking processes that require additional information and could benefit from automated data capture are:

• Raising daily limits
• Requesting a new card reader
• Ordering foreign currency
• Canceling or blocking a card

We’re probably biased, but Argenta's Charlie is our favorite example of automated data capture in a banking app. Another great example is Belfius’s myBo.

Financial transactions​

Forget logging into an app or, even worse, opening your computer. Encrypted messaging apps, like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram make checking your balance, paying bills and transferring money between accounts easier than ever. And the best part? Customers can use an app they already have instead of installing a new one!

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Check out Capital One’s Eno and Rawbank’s Rawbot to see how they use conversational AI to execute financial transactions.

Filing insurance claims​

Filing an insurance claim is never a fun process. But it’s even worse when you don’t know what to do and have to wait for someone to help you. Developing an insurance claims chatbot is one of the more complex implementations, but the time saved and improved customer experience make this a huge cost savings opportunity in the long run. Instead of spending hours processing a single claim, AI automates the complete data capture, so a claims agent only needs to spend a few minutes reviewing the case.

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We can also use AI to detect fraudulent language and build flows within the chatbot that stop users from submitting fake claims or adapting existing claims to increase their insurance payout.

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For an excellent implementation of an insurance claims chatbot, take a look at Belfius’s myBo.

Coaching and budget management​

Chatbots make great coaches for many reasons: they’re always on time, they never tire of nagging and most importantly, they don’t judge. We’re human, and sometimes we need a (not so) gentle reminder to keep ourselves in line, especially when it’s about budget management. Sticking to a budget and reaching financial goals, such as saving for a house or retirement, require constant discipline.

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Building a coach-like virtual assistant is one of the most challenging implementations because it requires integrating with your bank’s infrastructure and security requirements, engineering If This, Then That(IFTT) triggers and preparing for how the bot will handle conversations outside its scope.

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Our personal favorite is Cleo. She’s sassy, honest and just the kind of girl to help keep your spending habits in line. If you want something a bit more traditional, check out Hope.