Virtual assistants

Augmented devices and automation will push banking services beyond the current mobile phone delivery model into a virtual world — but how, exactly? Bank of America, Wells Fargo and others are trying to find out.

Few firms have been able to blend predictive virtual assistants, geolocation, data analytics and other cutting-edge technology into apps like TD Bank, which has more mobile users in Canada than anyone in finance.

From digital assistants and new branching strategies to revamped hiring processes and improved cybersecurity, these are the winners of the 2018 Best Practices Awards.

In a push to be on the leading edge of technology, Tennessee-based Enrichment Federal Credit Union launched a service through Amazon's Alexa by first making sure employees knew what to do.

Moelis submits a revised Fannie/Freddie blueprint; FASB considering a plan to have banks break out charge-offs and recoveries on year-by-year basis; Wells Fargo layoffs begin with 1,000 jobs in mortgage and tech; and more from this week's most-read stories.

A Colorado business owner and the second-largest U.S. bank are set to go to court this month over his intellectual property claim that he owns the service mark for an online virtual assistant named Erica. That is the same name the bank uses for its digital assistant.

Know how many different ways customers can ask a virtual assistant to move money between accounts? The answer is one of Bank of America’s takeaways from a lot of trial and error this year in launching voice-activated services.

Brian Roemmele debriefs on Alexa’s new range of voice-activated appliances, and Dmitry Malyanov, co-founder of AdHive, shares some of the questionable ICO promotion tactics he’s seen.

An AI-powered virtual assistant could be used in a variety of ways, including helping customers to prequalify for mortgages, easing compliance and detecting problems.

The app allows customers to pick and choose the right private banker for them.