After more than a year of development, TD has launched its AI-powered mobile chatbot.
Integrated with TD’s mobile app, Clari provides info that has become common for banks to offer through conversational platforms, such as nearby branch locations and exchange rates, as well as the ability to connect to a live representative if it is presented with a question it can’t answer. But the main feature of the bot is the insights it offers into a customer’s spending.
The AI behind Clari will analyze a user’s account and transaction data and allow them to ask questions about their spending habits, such as how much they’ve spent at a particular retailer over the previous month, or the next time a credit card payment is due.
The insights are similar to those TD already offers customers through the “MySpend” tracking app, albeit through a conversational interface, and through a system that will learn over time to better respond to customer questions and predict the insights they will find most useful.
Rizwan Khalfan, TD’s chief digital and payments officer, said AI is key to meeting consumer expectations in banking by “creating exceptional, personalized experiences and adding real value to our customers across our digital properties,” with conversational tech also being part of a larger strategy to provide customers with insights needed to feel confident in financial decisions. That idea also ties into the bank’s larger brand platform.
Most chatbots in the financial category have, up to this point, been limited to simple content such as locations and rates, but TD is not the first of the Big Five banks to combine AI and account info to help customers learn more about their own spending. In 2017, RBC first piloted Nomi, an AI tool that provided insights about spending habits, but also identified how much money a customer could be putting away and saving.
TD previously announced it would be working with Kasisto on AI-powered chat in 2017, which came with a $3.25 million investment.
