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ï»żWhen it comes to financial planning, everyone wants to make smarter choices. Whether itâs saving sm
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ăăWhen it comes to financial planning, everyone wants to make smarter choices. Whether itâs saving smarter, spending smarter or just being more aware of their financial status, many consumers are eager for tools that can make their money management skills even sharper.
ăăItâs not just consumers, though. Smarter financial management is also important to businesses looking to get a leg up on their competition. Now, thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), financial products can not only help customers save, but also help them spend smarter too.
ăăThatâs the approach Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is taking with its own initiatives. Last year, the company launched a pair of AI-powered programs aimed at helping customers save money by analyzing and tracking spending and providing insights into their spending habits.
ăăPYMNTS recently caught up with Rami Thabet, RBCâs vice president of Mobile, who explained how the bank reviews volumes of data to find actionable intelligence it can use to empower customers, helping them exercise greater control over their finances. He also discussed where RBC sees opportunities to integrate voice-activated technology solutions like Appleâs virtual assistant Siri into customersâ everyday banking activities.
ăăFrom Artificial to Financial Intelligence
ăăTo better serve its customers, Thabet said itâs necessary for RBC to get to know them and their spending patterns on an individual level. In pursuit of that venture, the company launched a pair of AI-powered services in August 2017 under the bankâs NOMI program â a play on the phrase âknow me.â
ăăRBCâs first service, NOMI Insights, uses AI to review a customerâs daily financial spending habits and offers a breakdown of how much he or she spends in certain categories, such as food, transportation or telecom. NOMI Insights also detects changes in how much is spent on each category over time. Meanwhile, NOMI Find & Save uses predictive analytics to determine how much money a user can afford to put into a savings account.
ăăAccording to Thabet, RBCâs AI strategy focuses on using AI-powered algorithms to scour volumes of usersâ data and help them make improvements to their daily financial lives. The AI-backed services are available to all company clients who choose to opt in. Once they do so, the algorithm highlights and displays their financial habits in the bankâs mobile app.
ăăâWhat this does is it immediately brings those insights to your mindâs eye, making them more relevant,â Thabet said.
ăăSpeaking to his own experience, Thabet noted the NOMI Insights service pointed out his personal home insurance bill was 10 percent higher than it had been a year earlier. Because the service highlighted the payment increase, it prompted him to investigate how much he was paying, ultimately leading him to switch insurance providers.
ăăRBCâs intention is to use AI to help its customers make more informed financial decisions by quickly analyzing and presenting their information, Thabet explained.
ăăâThese types of unique insights are triggering people to be a little more mindful of their finances,â he said.
ăăAdditional AI Applications
ăăAlong with putting AI-powered insights into consumersâ mobile devices, Thabet said RBC sees additional opportunities to let AI and virtual assistants like Appleâs Siri and Amazonâs Alexa collaborate on banking services. The company already allows customers to use Appleâs Siri to perform a variety of banking functions using voice commands, including checking balances, paying bills and making peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers.
ăăâWe see a lot of value and a lot of promise with AI and voice combined,â he said.
ăăBut beyond the individual banking customer, Thabet expects AI to help small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) manage their own financial needs. For example, the service can quickly review a companyâs financial habits and offer advice to help better manage cash flows. It can also be used to determine previous cash flow patterns, allowing business owners to prepare in advance and avoid having low levels of capital.
ăăâThe power that AI can unleash for the small business community and the commercial community is immense,â Thabet added.
ăăAs such, RBC has been aggressively investing in AI-based solutions. In the last year, alongside the NOMI AI initiatives, the bank announced plans to open a Borealis AI lab in Montreal with the goal of hiring 10 researchers in the first year.
ăăAnd, in addition to RBCâs efforts, Thabet explained that the growing number of global banks moving forward with AI investment strategies to help customers is a positive sign of times to come. Having a broad group from across the industry investing in tools like AI and voice-activated services would help end users unlock greater financial insights â and it could lead to the innovation of new banking capabilities too.
ăăâAI is proving to be really foundational at this time by being able to run through vast amounts of data and provide value for clients who have typically struggled at managing finances,â Thabet said.
ăăFor those whoâre worried they might not be able to make smarter financial moves, AI is becoming more readily available to help them fulfill their hard-to-keep resolutions.