Independent Banker - December 2017 - 70

Nuts & Bolts
by the end of this year, estimates
research and advisory fi rm Gartner.
" A few years ago, chatbots were a
fantasy, " says Kiki Del Valle, senior
vice president for Mastercard's Commerce
for Every Device unit. While
banks and other fi nancial companies
may have launched proof-of-concept
tests or private channels for employees,
Del Valle says there was little or
no movement to make the technology
commercial. Now, many fi nancial
fi rms (including Mastercard) have
launched their own chatbots to offer
around-the-clock customer service
and support at a much lower cost
than paying for live operators in a
call center.
Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase,
Capital One, USAA and Royal Bank of
Canada have all launched consumerfacing
chatbots, with more fi nancial
institutions following every month,
according to Blake Morgan, customer
experience futurist and author of
More Is More: How the Best Companies
Go Farther and Work Harder to
Create Knock-Your-Socks-Off Customer
Experiences.
" Bank of America's Erica, taken out
of the word 'America,' was created
to help customers with simple
transactions such as paying down
debt and checking account status, "
Morgan says.
For example, Erica might send a
customer a text suggesting a way he
or she can reduce debt, Morgan adds.
For its part, Mastercard launched
its chatbot pilot, Mastercard KAI,
on Facebook Messenger, allowing
customers to ask questions about their
accounts, review purchase history and
monitor spending levels. Gartner predicts
that by 2019, customer support
requests through consumer messaging
apps will exceed requests for
customer support through traditional
social media.
Swift evolution
" The technology has changed
dramatically in recent years, "
says Wellington Holbrook, chief
transformation offi cer at ATB
Financial, which is working with
technology developer Finn.ai to
create its own virtual assistant. The
$50 billion-asset fi nancial institution
had pilot tested with " a few hundred
customers, " according to Holbrook.
It launched its virtual assistant in
October. " We know that the newer
generation, the new and future customers,
just don't look at banking the
same way, " he adds. " For them, this
is a way more natural experience. We
15%
Percentage of banks
that currently use
chatbots
think it will enable us to change the
conversation at contact centers, and
advice about transactions as well. "
Jake Tyler, CEO of Finn.ai, believes
the entry of chatbots is part of a
whole new technology paradigm.
" The last decade has been dominated
by mobile; the next will be dominated
by AI, " he says. " It's a big deal,
and it will change how and where
people interact with banks and
credit unions. "
In an increasingly competitive digital
marketplace for fi nancial services,
banks need to work through the chat
and voice channels where their customers
are headed, Tyler adds.
Chatbots help banks connect more
easily and less expensively with
their customers-and with their
employees. CenterState Bank, based
in Winter Haven, Fla., is testing
its own internal chatbot to
allow staff to more quickly
track down fee schedules,
regulations and other
guidance so that they,
in turn, can better help
customers and do their
jobs more effi ciently,
says Chris Nichols,
66 ICBA Independent Banker December 2017
the bank's chief strategy offi cer. " We
would rather have a chatbot take two
seconds to return a fee schedule than
have the employee take fi ve minutes
to go look it up, " he says.
He says testing the technology
internally is an effective way of
working out the bugs for chatbot
problems. " Our own employees are a
lot more forgiving than retail customers, "
Nichols says, adding that there is
" more volatility and variability with
questions and requests that come
from consumers. "
The $7 billion-asset community
bank may trial the technology with
commercial customers. Still, Nichols
believes that retail banking " holds the
most promise overall to deliver value.
The chatbot humanizes technology. "
Early adopters
The fi nancial industry would seemingly
agree. Fifteen percent of banks
say they are already using chatbots,
and 31 percent claim to have a chatbot
project in the works, according
to a survey by Personetics, a fi nancial
chatbot developer.
But will chatbots catch on with
community banks the way they have
with larger fi nancial fi rms? While
the long-term answer is likely " yes, "
http://www.Finn.ai http://www.Finn.ai
Independent Banker - December 2017

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