Virtual assistants

The coronavirus pandemic was an unexpected catalyst for contactless cards, and another no-contact payment method is poised for growth as well: voice payments.

Firms that create virtual assistants for financial institutions are training their bots to answer questions about the pandemic and relieve phone lines from a barrage of customer calls.

A handful of banks keep trying to make the customer-Alexa connection happen; banks are more worried about payments firms than other types of fintechs; how financial institutions are coping with COVID-19; and more from this week’s most-read stories.

Consumer response to banking by smart speaker has been underwhelming. But a handful of financial institutions keep plugging away in hopes customers warm to the advantages of verbal commands instead of pushing buttons.

Yes, bots are taking the routine calls from business cardholders, but make no mistake — these are demanding clients from around the world who phone in from loud airports, on bad connections and speak with heavy accents.

Axos Bank favors remote access over chatbots, as it connects bankers with online customers in real time.

Credit decisions were a natural place to start with artificial intelligence, but now banks and credit unions are taking the technology to all parts of their businesses.

Bank Independent in Alabama was among the first to let customers bank through Amazon Alexa. Its digital chief, Kelly Burdette, shares how and why.

Sherry Comes, managing director in conversational AI at Deloitte Consulting, says banking in the future will take place through a home, car or phone speaker.

The fast-growing data company, which says its mission is to help banks be better consumer advocates, will use its cash infusion for hiring, software development and new partnerships.

Lincoln Parks, director of marketing at Heritage Bank, explains the bank’s cautious yet forward-thinking approach to its new virtual assistant.

A year after it debuted, Bank of America's virtual assistant now counts some 150,000 users per week. It's one of the few large financial institutions pushing such technology.

A digital challenger bank is relying heavily on artificial intelligence to provide low-cost banking to low-income people and small businesses.

The artificial intelligence engine will handle simple queries directly, feed information to customer service reps for others and analyze all calls.

David Tyrie, the bank’s new head of digital banking, discusses plans to offer customers constant course corrections and its new Life Plan product, and the latest on the virtual assistant Erica.

Leaders in bank innovation have ideas for improving financial services with high-speed, highly responsive 5G networks — ideas they say could be implemented relatively quickly.

The most popular features of the AI-driven virtual assistant include transaction search and spending alerts.

The companies have teamed up on a product to help banks, especially small ones, give customers more accurate insights into their own financial health.

Many bankers say they’re more comfortable with using artificial intelligence behind the scenes, but others — including Synchrony and Wells Fargo — insist AI can be used to interact with customers if it’s deployed properly.

Among the most innovative CEOs of his generation, the former Umpqua chief and Pivotus founder is taking some of his best ideas to a new fintech as an adviser.