BROOKFIELD, Wis. – Fiserv said it has launched a new conversational banking solution that allows financial institutions to engage consumers in new ways.
“This solution speaks to the way people want to interact today, relying on natural language to enable a range of digital banking experiences,” Fiserv said.
The company said Virtual Banking Assistant from Fiserv, which incorporates ground-breaking conversational AI technology from Clinc, enables credit unions to have more effective online conversations with their members, a complementary alternative to face-to-face member interactions and a key component of a holistic member experience.
“Virtual Banking Assistant allows people to interact with their financial providers digitally as if they were speaking with another person,” Fiserv said. “Consumers can ask about account and financial information, search for past transactions, view bills and more with real-time, contextual responses and the option to be transferred to live support when needed.”
In this way, Fiserv added, members get the support they expect easily and without waiting in a queue. In addition, the platform can provide actionable, proactive insights to help guide future spending and saving.
A ‘Natural Evolution’
“Conversational banking is a natural evolution of the digital banking experience, for many customers and many types of interactions,” said Bob Meara, senior analyst at Celent. “More people are looking to engage via these types of technologies, and financial institutions are increasingly looking to deliver them. The potential benefits are huge in terms of time savings and convenience for customers and cost savings and customer satisfaction for institutions.”
Rooted in Natural Language Processing (NLP), deep learning and AI technologies from Clinc, Fiserv said Virtual Banking Assistant is differentiated by a data-driven approach that doesn’t rely on rigid scripts, keyword matching or other traditional rules-based language. Trained on real examples, the software allows for a more fluid and flexible approach that can handle the messiness of spoken language and its varying contexts, the company added.
“Virtual Banking Assistant combines conversational AI and proactive insights within one dynamic platform, with the ability to scale as demand grows,” said Ryan Jandris, vice president of product management for Digital Channels at Fiserv. “By bringing this technology to market now, we can enable banks and credit unions to offer more innovative banking experiences at a time when consumers are increasingly engaging through digital channels.”
‘Evolving Expectations’
Fiserv added offering an AI-based capability that’s aligned with evolving consumer expectations can help financial institutions reduce call center volume and costs, as well as maintain a competitive edge. Beyond its consumer-facing uses for retail banking, Virtual Banking Assistant also can support internal processes of HR and call routing, execute transactions for brokers and surface insights for wealth managers, Fiserv said.
The company said Virtual Banking Assistant is immediately and exclusively available to Fiserv clients. The platform integrates with digital banking solutions from Fiserv including Architect, Corillian Online and Mobiliti so financial institutions can create distinct digital experiences through a single provider.