State-owned lenders implement AI to automate customer service, streamline processes

State-owned lenders Bank of Baroda, Allahabad Bank, and State Bank of India (SBI) are aggressively implementing artificial intelligence (AI) to improve customer experience, streamline internal processes and reduce operational costs, Press Trust of India reported.

SBI Intelligent Assistant, claims the lender, answers queries of NRI customers, just as a bank representative would. NRI is non-resident Indian. "It provides instant solutions for everyday banking problems in the chat box on the SBI portal," the bank said.

SBI is also in the process of establishing a centre that will explore how technologies such as AI and Robotic Process Automation can help make internal banking more efficient, the report added.

SBI’s moves come after the country’s largest public lender recently partnered South Africa-based digital infrastructure company Dimension Data to set up futuristic digital branches for better customer experience in advisory as well as banking services.

Another state-owned lender, Bank of Baroda, has set up a hi-tech digital branch with advanced gadgets like AI robot named Baroda Brainy, going by the report.

In the report, Allahabad Bank said that its app emPower is set to get major enhancements like chatbot and AI-based e-commerce payments.
Of late, India’s banking system has seen a lot of emerging technologies such as AI and blockchain.

In April 2018, private sector lender HDFC Bank’s humanoid robot grabbed a customer-care job in Bengaluru branch.

Around the same time, ICICI Bank said that it had successfully on-boarded 250 plus Indian companies on its blockchain platform for domestic and international trade finance.

Last month, Axis Bank jumped on the conversational banking bandwagon, with the private sector bank announcing the launch of a virtual assistant.

The assistant, called Axis Aha, is based on artificial intelligence. The bank said the chatbot can also help execute transactions in the chat window itself.