, ,

The Future of AI in Retail Banking Operations

(London, UK) Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a key focus for retail banking operations in recent months. Auriemma Group’s latest series of roundtables tackled the ever-growing space, discussing current usage of AI solutions and how members plan to utilize AI to further enhance their offerings.

“There’s a significant amount of interest in AI across all operational areas,” says Nicole Toussaint, Senior Manager of Industry Roundtables at Auriemma. “Although we’re seeing some hesitation in deploying it, I expect we’ll see some big moves by industry players over the coming months.”

Across all operational areas, firms are hoping to leverage AI to assist front-line employees with navigating their knowledge management systems. This would hopefully improve the accuracy of agent work and help to reduce lengthy training periods. Additionally, firms are considering using the tool enterprise-wide to produce meeting minutes and to assist in communications drafting.

In the Collections and Recoveries space, firms hope to use the tool in their contact strategies. Roundtable members believe that AI can make their contact more effective by creating more bespoke strategies. The technology can help firms decide the optimal time to contact customers, the most effective channel to make contact, and the most engaging messaging and content to use.

Fraud Departments see an opportunity to use AI to improve their current fraud detection models to identify bad actors and fraudulent payments more quickly. Several firms have already partnered with vendors who provide AI-powered fraud mitigation tools.

On the Servicing side, firms are discussing improvements to their chatbot offerings. Currently, many chatbots are FAQ-based, but firms believe that AI can revolutionise the chatbot experience and improve satisfaction scores in the channel.

“We see a clear opportunity to leverage AI to provide dynamic call scripting to front-line agents,” says Toussant. “This would take some of the pressure off agents when servicing and allow banks to provide a more tailored, well-informed customer experience.”

In the Disputes and Chargebacks space, one firm is already using an AI-integrated optical character resolution (OCR) tool to read customer documents provided as proof in a disputes case. Many firms hope to use AI to gain efficiencies in the disputes process. They believe that the tool can help guide agent decisions as they work cases by pulling in bank, scheme, and regulatory policies.

Similarly, in the Complaints space, members see an opportunity for AI to help complaints agents while investigating. AI can not only analyse the materials provided by the complainant but also bring in insights from previously decisioned cases and Financial Ombudsman (FOS) decisions. In this process, the technology can also guide the agent in classifying the complaint type. Some also noted that AI could potentially assist agents with drafting final response letters.

This topic is expected to become an evergreen topic at Auriemma Roundtable meetings, especially as firms identify new use cases and as Auriemma brings in experts from the field to drive further thought leadership.

The next set of roundtable meetings are scheduled for June and July at the Edwardian Hotel in Manchester. If you or any of your colleagues are interested in attending as our guests, please contact us via roundtables@auriemma.group.

About Auriemma Group

For 40 years, Auriemma’s mission has been to empower clients with authoritative data and actionable insights. Our team comprises recognised experts in four primary areas: operational effectiveness, consumer research, co-brand partnerships and corporate finance. Our business intelligence and advisory services give clients access to the data, expertise and tools they need to navigate an increasingly complex environment and maximise their performance. Auriemma serves the consumer financial services ecosystem from our offices in London and New York City. For more information, visit us at www.auriemma.group or contact Nicole Toussaint at nicole.toussaint@auriemma.group.

/by
, , ,

Comfortability with AI Solutions Signals New Era in Financial Advice

(New York, NY) Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to expand, with recent advancements in the technology being offered directly to consumers. The capabilities of AI chatbots, like ChatGPT, raise questions about the future of AI, and its integration into banking and payment experiences. Auriemma Group’s latest issue of The Payments Report reveals current usage levels of AI chatbots, comfortability with AI solutions being utilized by banks and retailers, and how likely consumers are to turn to AI chatbots for financial advice.

ChatGPT is still in its infancy, but 15% of debit cardholders have used it. Importantly, this represents a 68% take-rate among those familiar with the service. Other providers, such as Google’s Bard, DiabloGPT, and YouChat all boast similar take rates, according to Auriemma’s research.

While the casual ChatGPT user may prompt the service to help write an email or provide information on a topic, the AI language model can also provide financial support. This would be welcomed by 40% of cardholders who reported that they are likely to use an AI chatbot for financial advice, up 6-percentage points compared to Q4-2022. And this figure rises for Gen Z and Millennial cardholders, 60% of whom would be comfortable.

“Cardholders are broadly aware that AI is imbued in some of their bank’s automated offerings,” says Jonathan O’Connor, Senior Manager at Auriemma. “But the question is how banks can use AI to further support their offerings in smart ways. Some applications of the technology would be more welcome than others.”

Unsurprisingly, exposure to AI integration within certain tools appears to increase comfortability. According to Auriemma’s research, 62% of debit cardholders would be comfortable with an AI solution offered by their primary bank aimed at identifying potential fraud. Slightly fewer say the same about using AI to provide customer service (52%), assess credit worthiness (47%), or predict stock prices (45%).

Over half of consumers would also welcome AI solutions offered by retailers they shop with frequently. Cardholders are most comfortable with retailers using AI for fraud leads (64%), followed by price comparison tools (64%), customer service (53%), and personalized shopping recommendations (52%).

“For banks, the most immediate use case for AI is to support financial health initiatives,” says O’Connor. “Cardholders are already accustomed to chatting with AI to help solve straightforward issues. Utilizing the technology to connect cardholders with solutions or resources aimed at alleviating financial strain or enabling smarter spend decisions is a clear next step.”

The proliferation of AI chatbots creates an opportunity for banks and retailers to expand their offerings. Services like ChatGPT raise overall consumer awareness with AI’s capabilities and could increase comfortability with the technology being used by other providers they trust. As these services grow and increase in popularity, it will be important for banks to keep up should they want to continue to be cardholders’ primary destination for financial advice.

Survey Methodology

The Payments Report

This Auriemma Group study was conducted online within the US by an independent field service provider on behalf of Auriemma Group (Auriemma) in March 2023 among 800 adult debit cardholders. The number of interviews completed for both is sufficient to allow for statistical significance testing among sub-groups at the 95% confidence level ±5%, unless otherwise noted. The purpose of the research was not disclosed, nor did respondents know the criteria for qualifying.

About Auriemma Group

For more than 35 years, Auriemma’s mission has been to empower clients with authoritative data and actionable insights. Our team comprises recognized experts in four primary areas: operational effectiveness, consumer research, co-brand partnerships, and corporate finance. Our business intelligence and advisory services give clients access to the data, expertise and tools they need to navigate an increasingly complex environment and maximize their performance. Auriemma serves the consumer financial services ecosystem from our offices in New York City and London. For more information, call Jonathan O’Connor at (+1) 1-646-437-6116.

/by
© Copyright - Auriemma Group