Courtesy of a new partnership with Finovate multiple Best of Show winner Finn.ai, the 700,000 banking customers of ATB Financial now have access to virtual banking assistance via their Facebook Messenger app. “AI is completely reinventing the consumer banking experience,” Finn.ai CEO Jake Tyler said. “With the Finn.ai platform, you get more than immediate, secure banking access, you get smart, personalized financial insights to help you achieve your specific financial goals.”
Calling the partnership “one more way we’re delivering on our commitment to really make banking work for people,” ATB Chief Transformation Officer Wellington Holbrook expressed excitement at the idea of bringing “conversational commerce” to its retail banking customers. “The more you interact with the assistant the smarter it gets,” Holbrook said. “This empowers us to continually improve service and delivery to our customers with a level of security consistent across our digital offerings.”
Finn.ai CEO Jake Tyler demonstrating the Finn Virtual Banking Assistant at FinovateFall 2017.
The largest “home-grown” financial institution in Alberta, Canada, ATB Financial has been testing AI and chatbot technology with early adopters since February with the goal of leveraging the popular Facebook Messenger app to provide banking services. The firm credited Finn.ai for being able to help an “agile, mid-sized FI” like ATB Financial quickly move the project from proof-of-concept status to “rapid full-market deployment.” Holbrook noted that ATB, with more than $48 million in assets and more than 5,000 team members, hopes to expand use of the technology to other platforms, including smart devices like televisions.
More than just a Q&A chatbot, ATB’s Finn.ai-powered virtual assistant enables secure billpay, viewing of account balances, money transfer between accounts – including cross-currency money movement. The virtual assistant also provides spending insights, access to live customer support, and Mastercard statement alerts.
Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Finn.ai demonstrated its Virtual Banking Assistant at FinovateFall 2017, winning Best of Show. Earlier this year, Finn.ai earned a spot in Payment Canada’s pitch competition, Dragon’s Den. The company has also been recognized this summer by Capegemini’s global InnovatorsRace and at the VivaTech conference in Paris. We featured Finn.ai in our look at artificial intelligence and fintech, A Fintech Filter for Artificial Intelligence in 2017 back in January.