Finn.ai, a Canada-based developer of conversational banking tech, has launched a new personal banking chatbot for the Bank of Montreal (BMO), reports Tanya Andreasyan of Banking Technology (Finovate’s sister publication).

The chatbot – called BMO Bolt – is available via Facebook Messenger, which is Canada’s “top messaging platform” according to Finn.ai.

84% of the country’s population uses a smartphone to access Facebook and 38% performs mobile banking tasks via mobile phones, the vendor added.

Brett Pitts, chief digital officer at BMO Financial, observed that “digital is increasingly becoming the preferred way for our customers to engage with us on a daily basis.”

BMO Bolt is capable of answering 250 common inbound questions such as information on BMO products, foreign exchange rates, as well as branch locations and ATMs, 24×7. “It will learn to answer additional questions each time it interacts with a BMO customer, allowing the technology to continually evolve,” Finn.ai explained.

The project follows on from Finn.ai’s similar deals with a smaller Canadian financial institution, ATB Financial, and Banpro in Nicaragua. Finn.ai said it is “the first ever public launch of a chatbot with a national, tier one Canadian bank”.

Finn.ai is a two-time Finovate Best of Show winner, taking home top honors at FinovateAsia 2016 and FinovateFall 2017.  Founded in 2014, Finn.ai is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, and has raised $3 million in funding. Jake Tyler is CEO.