• Upstart launched a new capability, Recognized Customer Personalization (RCP), that allows banks to present customized loan offers to their clients searching for a loan on Upstart.com.
• Banks can tailor the offer to each prospective borrower based on their risk tolerance, return target, preferred loan size and terms, and geographic focus.
• Currently, more than 20 lenders within Upstart’s network are already using the new tool.

Lending marketplace Upstart recently unveiled a feature it calls Recognized Customer Personalization (RCP). This new personalization tool enables banks using Upstart’s Referral Network to present a customized loan offer to their customers who use Upstart.com to look for a loan.

The new capability offers lenders on the Upstart Referral Network insight into which of their customers are in the market for a loan and enables banks to send an immediate and automated branded credit offer to the customer. Banks can tailor the offer to each prospective borrower based on their risk tolerance, return target, preferred loan size and terms, and geographic focus. RCP also allows lenders to use their own, in-house underwriting model, or leverage Upstart’s AI-enabled credit decisioning tool.

“In the current economic environment, lenders are laser focused on retaining their customers and increasing the lifetime value of those relationships,” said Michael Lock, SVP of Lending Partnerships, Upstart. “RCP enables them to reach their existing customers in a new way, provide more value, and build loyalty.”

RCP is currently available for personal loans and Upstart plans to expand the program to auto loans and home equity lines of credit in the future. Currently, more than 20 lenders within Upstart’s network are already using RCP.

Charles Eads, Chief Lending Officer of one such lender, Abound Credit Union, noted RCP’s potential to help the credit union serve members outside of its typical geographic boundary. “RCP will enable us to retain and better serve our existing members,” said Eads. “This innovative program will allow us to continue to meet the financial needs of our members in the communities we serve, as well as those members who have moved outside of the area.”

California-based Upstart was founded in 2012 to leverage AI and machine learning to price credit and automate the borrowing process. The company closed its IPO in 2020 and is currently traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker UPST with a market capitalization of $2.02 billion.

Photo by Monica Silvestre

• Salesforce launched two new capabilities within its Einstein 1 platform, Transaction Dispute Management and Einstein Copilot Banking Actions.
• Transaction Dispute Management helps service agents streamline dispute management, while Einstein Copilot Banking Actions serves as a chatbot and AI assistant for bank service agents.
• Salesforce launched Einstein 1 in 2023 to enable customers to infuse AI, automation, and analytics into customer experiences.

Salesforce announced today it has launched new capabilities to help banks resolve transaction disputes. The new, AI-powered tools streamline the entire dispute process to resolve customer inquiries and requests more efficiently.

The new tools include Transaction Dispute Management and Einstein Copilot Banking Actions. These capabilities are available within one of Salesforce’s tool suites, Einstein 1, which the company launched in 2023 to enable customers to infuse AI, automation, and analytics into customer experiences. The two transaction dispute resolution tools help banks combine consumer transaction data with customer data from Salesforce to automate manual tasks, reduce errors, resolve issues, and improve customer communications.  

The Transaction Dispute Management tool is an AI-powered solution that helps service agents at banks streamline dispute management. Like many dispute management tools on the market, Salesforce’s offering works for the entire dispute process– from the time a dispute is submitted until it is resolved. The tool helps banks maintain communication channels with customers, card networks, merchants, and issuing banks. One of Salesforce’s differentiating factors with the tool, however, is that it allows bank agents to use prebuilt email prompt templates and generative AI to draft personalized customer emails related to dispute activity within their workflow. Transaction Dispute Management also integrates with card networks to provide connected workflows, simplifying coordination with merchants.

The second capability Salesforce launched within Einstein 1 today, Einstein Copilot Banking Actions, is a chatbot and AI assistant for bank service agents. The tool helps agents ask questions and receive relevant responses based in metadata, then automate tasks within their workflow. For example, an agent can ask Einstein Copilot to trigger a fee reversal request for a disputed transaction, issue a provisional credit, or pull a list of recent customer transactions. Because all actions run within the Einstein Trust Layer, they do not compromise data security or privacy standards.

“The current process for managing transaction disputes is complex and cumbersome, leading to decreased productivity for bank service agents,” said Salesforce SVP & GM for Financial Services Eran Agrios. “These new capabilities simplify and streamline the entire transaction dispute cycle, enabling banks to deliver exceptional customer experiences and drive innovation across their business.”

Salesforce was founded in 1999, and in the company’s 25 years of operations, it has expanded well beyond a simple CRM solution. The California-based company currently provides a host of sales and marketing tools, digital storefronts and commerce solutions, data analytics and visualization offerings, collaboration software, and more.

Photo by Kindel Media