Will artificial intelligence radically alter banking work?

More and more banks are accordingly installing platforms using artificial intelligence and neuro-linguistic programming on their websites, to help users find information more easily and quickly online, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Website users can ask their questions in complete sentences and receive an “intelligent” answer to their question, as the software uses previous user experiences to constantly improve itself. Customer satisfaction increases, the bank becomes more responsive as it can track in real time what customers are looking for, and whether answers to their questions already exist, and performance of their call centres improves because they take fewer calls, from customers who have not found answers to their questions on the website.

Others are already taking matters further by using artificial intelligence to replace customer service staff for basic requests. Genuine virtual assistants, the software sorts, analyses, replies to e-mails and informs customers about the bank's offers.

And this is just the beginning: with their automatic learning capability, AI technologies will in future attain a level of maturity that will enable them to provide customers with a more personalised, worthwhile and fuller banking experience, not only in writing but also through speech recognition.

Artificial intelligence also gives banks the possibility of building a 360° picture of their customers. Banks can monitor the web and social networks to evaluate their online reputations and analyse emails sent by branches to measure customer relations and satisfaction rates. More and more banks are currently implementing software able to collect and process users' online feedback forms. Artificial intelligence can also provide valuable help in economic intelligence and marketing. By studying the products and services, types of communication and CRM methods adopted by competitor banks, a bank can adapt its strategy accordingly.

Artificial intelligence is also a prime tool in reducing account opening processing time, speeding up the risk analysis process (in a few minutes instead of several weeks!) and reducing the likelihood of money laundering via investments or loans. By analysing agreements signed according to defined rules and data from various private and public sources, AI is able to provide an almost instant response.

Artificial intelligence is also entering the trading room. In December 2017, ING became one of the first banks to use AI technology to help traders get the best and fastest prices in the bond market. 

In the near future, many requests will be processed automatically. AI is now able to extract the important information contained in a claim report file, analyse the head of loss in question and understand whether or not it is covered by the policy. It can also reduce the processing time when bank cards are lost or stolen. Not forgetting simplification of in-house processes such as recruitment, by automatically analysing and cross-referencing published job offers and offers received.

So, will robots really replace human staff? No, quite the opposite. By relieving them of many repetitive tasks, AI technology will help bank staff in their decision-making and allow them to concentrate solely on value-added tasks. As paradoxical as it might seem, artificial intelligence will make banks even more human.

11/2021