Aussie bank quietly testing customer AI ‘companion’
The day is coming when Australians will be able to apply for a home or business loan via artificial intelligence without even speaking to a human.
That’s the view of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which is currently investigating agencies that can complete income verification and other stages of a loan application.
They’re not quite there yet, but the country’s largest bank has taken a step forward after announcing that Commbank Companion, an AI-powered AI tool that will be included in its mobile banking app, has been pilot tested.
The bank says the tool will allow retail and business customers to ask questions and find information about their goals, such as home buying, financial health, cash flows and savings, all without being human, using customers’ own readily available information.
However, the conversational tool will not make direct recommendations about bank products as it is not intended or allowed to replace financial advice due to banking industry rules and regulations.
The theory is that, depending on the terms and conditions, the customer will be in control, especially over what they choose to do next.
CBA says this is a big step up from a banking chatbot; Because the assistant can take action while solving questions by acting intuitively as he gets to know you, your likes and preferences.
For example, let’s say 28-year-old “Alex” wants to buy a home and sees a property he likes one weekend. In CBA’s world, you’d ask your friend how much it’s worth and how to reach your deposit goals and get the answers in real time. With a plan now in place, the companion would continue to act as a guide to help Alex save.
“This definitely takes us beyond customer-facing chatbots. This goes way beyond that,” said Sam Hemphill, general manager of customer channel and data.
CBA claims Companion is the first customer-facing front-end tool developed by the big four banks in Australia. Macquarie Bank, which is not among the big four, offers Q in its app, which it describes as an agent support tool.
“This is going to become an extremely competitive area,” said Angus Sullivan, CBA’s group head of retail banking services.
“My expectation is that the native app experience will increasingly become a conversational and mediated digital experience at the core of our customers’ interaction.”
The current banking app is used every day by more than nine million Australians (about 33 per cent of the population), who log in an average of 1.4 times per day, according to CBA data.
The companion product is currently being tested by 10,000 bank employees and select business customers and will be rolled out in phases.
It will go ‘live’ with thousands of retail and commercial customers by the end of June.
The CommBank Companion announcement comes ahead of the bank’s AI customer conference in Sydney on Tuesday, where the heads of OpenAI, Coles and Canva will speak about the outlook for AI adoption.
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