Bank of America today announced a series of new features to its artificial intelligence (AI)-driven virtual financial assistant, Erica, to help clients tackle more complex tasks and provide personalized, proactive guidance to help them stay on top of their finances.
The latest enhancements to Erica are all about giving our 26 million mobile users more insight into their full financial picture,” said Michelle Moore, head of digital banking at Bank of America. “When we piloted these new offerings, we received overwhelming feedback. Many reported that Erica helped them save a significant amount of money; for example, Erica alerted them of unwanted subscription charges they did not even realize they had.”
Erica’s initial insights will include:
- Spend Path: Provides a weekly snapshot of month-to-date spending.
- FICO® Score Tracker: Helps to track important month-to-month changes to FICO® scores.
- Subscription Monitor: Flags upcoming recurring charges.
- Credit card bill reminders: Sends alerts for upcoming Bank of America credit card payments due.
“Our AI engine was built to evolve with our clients,” explains Aditya Bhasin, head of Consumer, Small Business and Wealth Management Technology for Bank of America. “Since the launch, we’ve integrated more than 200,000 different ways for clients to ask financial questions and expanded Erica’s conversational knowledge. We are introducing this new suite of more complex capabilities based on insights, behaviors and real-time feedback from millions of Erica users.”
Launched earlier this year, Erica employs the latest technology in AI, predictive analytics and natural language to help clients better meet their financial needs. Erica recently surpassed more than 3.6 million users and has assisted with more than 12 million client requests to date. When seeking Erica’s assistance, 43 percent of users are interacting via text, closely followed by tap (32 percent) and voice recognition (25 percent).
Bank of America continues to add updates and features to Erica based on client feedback. Michelle Moore and David Poole, head of Merrill Edge advisory client services and digital capabilities, will attend Money 20/20 in Las Vegas this week to discuss the future of Erica.
