Digital Banking Analyzer

Almost a third of financial institutions tracked by Curinos offer an in-app chatbot, with 73% of national banks offering these conversational assistants. While many bots are limited in terms of interpreting complex requests, leading digital assistants are moving beyond “triage to live agent” capabilities to act on behalf of users. 

With the reduction in branches and the aim to reduce call center usage, institutions need to address how they can provide always-on customer assistance and support, particularly to late digital adopters. Digital assistants need to develop to the level where they can activate and execute – not just navigate or tell the user how to do something on the app or website.  Of the 16 leading US banking chatbots reviewed for over forty different tasks in Curinos’ annual Digital Assistance report, only 3 assistants could make a payment for the user, and 5 could freeze debit cards.  Most bots either navigated users to complete their tasks or diverted to live chat.  

Our Digital Banking Analyzer research suggests very different stages of chatbot advancement among US retail checking providers. As apps become more complex offering more functionality, institutions need to reconsider how they facilitate their digital offering to meet widening user preferences.  Assistants may need to offer more activation and more insights.  With generative AI impressing itself on the most advanced chatbots, it’s imperative that market participants know where they sit in the competitive landscape.