Conversational AI for Banking: Definition, Use Cases and Benefits

Nishrath

September 7, 2024

Conversational AI has become the dominant technology of the 2020s. Thanks to technological innovations, algorithmic breakthroughs, the availability of big data, and the incredible boost in computing power, this technology has been changing the ways we work like no one had imagined.

While media and public attention mostly focus on breakthroughs in areas such as retail and manufacturing, AI has also become a major technological force in the financial industry. In fact, a study from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that in 2022, 37% of the American population (which is approximately 98 million) connected with banks through chatbots, a figure that is expected to grow to 110 million by 2026.

In this blog, discover a few ways you can make conversational AI work for your banking operations, followed by an in-depth look at its benefits in making financial services more accessible, improving client satisfaction, and reducing the stress on your team.

What is Conversational AI in Banking?

Conversational AI in general is an umbrella term used to describe technologies that can automatically understand and respond to voice-based or text-based human conversations. 

Most Conversational AI technologies used in the banking sector feature a conversational interface that serves as a gateway for requesting various services. Those requests are either addressed with a simple question-and-answer format or associated with a complex conversation flow.

They use a combination of algorithms to provide these smarter experience, including:

  • Natural language processing (NLP): A subset of AI technology that can carry forward conversations in a natural way.
  • Machine learning(ML): This technology remembers massive amounts of data in a short time, and at some point, it starts to recognise patterns to make better predictions.

Top Conversational AI Use Case in Banking

Mobile Banking 

Mobile banking has become such a norm in the last couple of years. Due to the complicated on-site process—not only is it tiresome to wait in a queue, but you have to navigate a long list of operations, each with its own disclosure—clients prefer a solution that allows them to manage their finances on the go. Mobile apps can carry out casual banking operations such as checking account balances, performing transactions, and ordering new cheque books and cards.

To further smoothen the process, AI chatbots can be integrated into these mobile apps. These AI chatbots, powered by ML and NLP algorithms, can note down any routine queries and give the data quickly whenever a customer asks.

For example, Mevrik offers next-generation AI chatbots that can be trained on high-quality banking data. It can easily generate human-like conversations, create a personalised experience, and automate simple tasks. Plus, it supports 130+ languages in text and 70+ in voice, so you can support a diverse range of customers.

Sales Processes 

Modern chatbots are not only better at answering elementary questions of customers; they can also act as a virtual employee. It can help clients navigate different bank offers without human interventions—thus they can operate calmly and pick services that better meet their needs. 

Additionally, the conversational AI system can help you perform critical sales-related tasks such as generating leads quickly and productively. The system can store large amounts of data, which allows you to identify prospecting clients and offer personalised support.

For example, an AI-powered CRM system like Mevrik allows you to list down all customer preferences and needs during an interaction. This can be later used by the executives to find the best ways to get in touch with them and make personalised product and service recommendations, such as loans, credit cards, or investment options.

Furthermore, AI systems can also help you identify opportunities to offer additional products and services that complement what your clients already use. This allows you to improve the overall value of the interaction and increase the satisfaction rate.

Fraud Identification 

The amount of worldwide transactions is doubling down every second, as is the threat of online fraud. Traditional fraud detection systems merely take a couple of data points, whereas AI-based algorithms consider far more data points to detect these frauds.

For example, conversational AI systems can record each interaction in its fullest possible detail. They can then analyse the language, tone, and behaviour patterns of these interactions to detect any suspicious activity that might indicate scams, such as phishing attempts or unauthorised access.

Additionally, these AI systems can recognise even a subtle irregular pattern in any transaction request made by clients. If the client's behaviour disputes typical transaction patterns, the AI system can automatically flag it for further investigation.

Smart Loans 

When it comes to giving a loan, banks might look into factors like transaction history, income, tax payments, and more. Those who have all their money information well-recorded get the chance to receive the help from the bank. However, several loan seekers can be underbanked and do not have all their financial information in bank records.

An AI-based credit classification system can collect wealth of information from their smartphones and examine their trustworthiness. These different data points can later be used to help customers access credit scores from the banks.

After the loan application has been released, the conversational AI system can help you completely automate the payment reminders as well as guide clients in setting up an auto-debit system. Additionally it can help clients re-negotiate the payment terms if they are struggling financially. 

Benefits of Conversational AI in Banking

Lead to Greater Customer Satisfaction 

Bank clients are more likely to be satisfied with your services and return for additional investments when they find your response reasonable and valuable to their problems. Maintaining customer satisfaction is extremely critical for the sustainability of your bank, as keeping existing customers is far more profitable than winning new ones.

‍To bring some numbers into play, it costs five times more to acquire a new one than to retain existing ones. And it makes sense given that you have to spend a lot of time and resources in advertising, promoting, and customer service to convert a potential lead into a long term client.

24/7 Support 

Most customers don’t want to wait in long lines for receiving banking support. They want straight talk from the banks without wasting tons of time. However, bank executives have certain limitations, such as operating hours and the challenge of instantly recalling specific information— which limits their ability to provide immediate support.

Intelligent systems like AI chatbots do not have any such restrictions. It will answer any queries of clients no matter the time, as long as the data is trained within the system.

This not only speeds up support response times but also balances out your clients dependency on your human team, thereby allowing your team to focus on tasks that require niche human ideas.

Reveal Areas for Improvement

A conversational AI system gives bank executives an easy way to receive feedback and commentary from target customers, employees, and even former employees.

Feedback from customers helps you understand customers needs and preferences, which in turn can help you build better products and services.

Additionally, getting an accurate view of your company performances through employee feedback allows you to quickly discover how your team works, their strengths and weaknesses in a professional context and if there can be any incremental changes added to workflow that can result in bigger wins.

Final Thoughts 

The goal of introducing AI in banking systems is to deliver pleasant client experiences. Whatever technology or strategy you choose to use, it should shift your customer's attention from understanding complex banking slang and processes to focussing on things that matter most to them.  

An AI Powered platform like Mevrik AI can help you optimise all these processes into one single solution so you don't have to go back-and-forth between multiple things to deliver an excellent support. Sign up for a free trial today.

Explore How Mevrik Can Grow Your Business

Ready to thrive on the customer experience and increase sales & support?

Get Started