TD Bank cut the latest deal in the space, announcing this week that it had acquired Layer 6, an AI company based in Toronto that uses technology to offer personalized and predictive communications to financial services customers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but a report in The Globe and Mail said it was worth more than $100 million.
TD has been among the banks at the forefront of personalization; it already partners with the personal financial management firm Moven and the tech startup Flybits to deliver customized financial advice to clients.
TD Canada Trust customers use a bank of ATM's in the concourse of the Toronto Dominion Centre in the Toronto financial district, Tuesday 21 December, 2010, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. photographer Norm Betts for Bloomberg News
NORM BETTS
In an interview with American Banker last month, TD Bank’s vice president of innovation framework and strategies, Tim Hogarth said, personalization is a key aspect of AI technology. “I think personalization of the customer experience is the most underutilized area of AI,” he said.
Indeed, many banks are already planning for a future where an “ultimate virtual assistant” would function as the all-encompassing virtual digital financial advisory tool in consumers’ lives.
"I want to be able to call my smart assistant — say he's named Alfred — whether I'm in my car using Siri or at home using Google Home or at the office using Alexa," Moven founder Brett King said in a recent episode of his “Breaking Banks” podcast. "I want Alfred to be able to answer me and know me. He should know who I am just based on my voice pattern."
The Los Angeles-based subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada is elbowing into fast-growing North Carolina and South Carolina with a strategy focused on middle market banking.
HoldCo Asset Management says that shareholders should reject Fifth Third's proposed acquisition of Comerica during a Jan. 6 vote due to what it calls an "unacceptable" negotiation process and the possible upside from another deal.
Part of the growing "phishing-as-a-service" economy, the Spiderman kit offers novice hackers sophisticated tools to target customers of major EU institutions.
Banks may need to offer people over the age of 65 more than just digital experiences, according to an executive at J.D. Power, which surveyed more than 11,000 retail banking customers.
In a move some industry observers call "dangerous and irresponsible," the administration is taking down consumer protection guardrails that have been put up by states like California and Colorado.
