How AI is Helping Banks to Understand Customers

Posted on 2 February 2020

AI has helped financial organisations to cut costs, increase efficiency, and decrease risk – but these nifty algorithms are also helping banks to understand and cater to customers in a whole new way.

 

Artificial Intelligence has been making waves in the finance sector for quite some time now, from data-based mortgage risk assessments, to fraud detection, and intuitive trading. While artificial intelligence and machine learning are invaluable to an organisations backend, could algorithms also improve customer experiences on the front end?

 

Understanding Behaviour

The FinTech revolution is well underway and banks are working with the brightest minds in order to stay ahead of the technological curve. In fact, a recent survey shows that 89% of bankers felt that AI was a top priority. Customer data management has always been a large part of banking, but with AI technology speeding up the process, banks now have the ability to comb through mountains of data in seconds, and with the help of machine learning, these processes are only getting faster and more accurate over time.

 

This technology allows for better strategic agendas across financial organisations. Banks are now able to catch fraudulent behaviour faster, segment customers into niche groups for better targeting, predict spending habits, and to identify and correct regular customer complaints.

 

AI imbues banks with the data to utilise predictive models that analyse past behaviour to predict future behaviour, for example, targeting customers who are about to move their money elsewhere before it’s too late. Essentially, AI will help to remove barriers between banks and their customers.

 

 

Communicating with Customers

AI is also helping to facilitate better communication between banks and their customers. By now, most of us have encountered virtual assistants, with the likes of Alexa and Siri serving as staples in the home. These futuristic appliances use Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology – essentially AI that understands human speech and responds accordingly. This tech is also used in sophisticated chatbots, which are able to understand and respond to a massive range of unspecified customer queries at lightning fast speeds.

 

Well-programmed chatbots have the potential to be more accurate and efficient than human customer service workers, with the added benefit of 24-hour customer interaction (after all, AI doesn’t need to sleep).

 

There’s big potential in a chatbot workforce that can work round the clock without the risk of human error, not to mention the cost saving implications, but does this mean that our bank tellers will soon all be replaced by robots? Highly unlikely for the next few years, but the future of online banking will definitely become faster, smarter, and more personalised – which leads us to…

 

 

The Personal Touch

The modern customer wants more from their bank than ever before. As a new wave of Millennial and Gen Z customers emerges, personalisation is paramount. AI allows fintech organisations to personalise the customer journey, reducing friction and frustration, and therefore earning customer loyalty. With the help of artificial intelligence, banks can mine data quickly and use that information to help customers set financial goals and make major fiscal decisions.

 

Savvy spenders are already taking advantage of new banking apps that use algorithms to help users make decisions smart about their money. MyEva is an app that will give customers a financial health check, offering banking advice based on the user’s responses. Additionally, Chip and Plum are two fintech apps that use AI to assess how customers use their current accounts, how much they can afford to move into savings, and when’s the best time to do so.

 

 

With new developments emerging all the time, it’s safe to say that a future of personalised banking dashboards, and virtual financial advisors, cannot be that far away. Just a decade ago, these exciting fiscal developments would have been considered the stuff of sci-fi stories, but now with the help of AI, banks are ushering in this new future, and bringing it to life. And who doesn’t want to bank smarter?

 

If you’d like to know more about how we utilise AI-driven technology to improve security, increase efficiency, and cut costs within the FSI sector, please get in touch with a member of our dedicated team.

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