Latest news with #Erica®
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
AI Adoption by BofA's Global Workforce Improves Productivity, Client Service
More than 90% of employees use AI-driven virtual assistant for increased efficiency CHARLOTTE, N.C. and LONDON and HONG KONG, April 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of America uses innovative technology to meet and anticipate the needs of its clients and 213,000 employees. For many years, this commitment has carried through in its approach to AI and machine learning. The technology is embedded today across the company's business lines and areas including global technology, operations, and training. "AI is having a transformative effect on employee efficiency and operational excellence," said Aditya Bhasin, Chief Technology & Information Officer at Bank of America. "Our use of AI at scale and around the world enables us to further enhance our capabilities, improve employee productivity and client service, and drive business growth." Seven years ago, in 2018, Bank of America launched Erica®, the first widely adopted AI-driven virtual financial assistant, within its mobile app. Since then, clients have interacted with Erica more than 2.5 billion times, with 20 million clients now actively using the virtual assistant. Bank of America's approach to AI includes human oversight, transparency, and accountability for all outcomes. In addition to recently shared examples of how AI benefits clients and employees, our employees' use of AI continues to expand in areas such as: Erica for Employees – Building upon Erica's success, in 2020, Bank of America launched Erica for Employees, an AI-driven internal virtual assistant which was rapidly adopted during the pandemic by employees seeking technology support in areas such as mobile device password reset, device activation, and many others. In 2023, the functionality was expanded to assist with additional topics such as where to review health benefits, locate payroll and tax forms, and over 90% of employees use Erica for Employees, with the virtual assistant having reduced calls into the IT service desk by more than 50%. The capabilities will expand this year to offer enhanced search and assistance across a broader set of topics – including answers to employee questions about Bank of America products and services – with plans to leverage both AI and generative AI (GenAI). ask MERRILL® and ask Private Banking® – Leveraging the technology behind Erica, these tools help Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank teams efficiently curate information to deliver superior client experiences. When needed, the chat functionality can also connect teams with experts at the bank for help with more complex requests. In 2024, there were more than 23 million interactions with ask MERRILL and ask Private Banking, an increase of 1 million over 2023, helping employees more proactively connect with clients about timely and relevant opportunities. Capturing client feedback – This internally-developed GenAI capability is used by Bank of America call centers to summarize call recordings, which helps increase efficiency and ensure the company remains in tune with clients' needs and improves their experiences. Previously, teammates would manually generate these summaries. Future enhancements this year will extend to other communication channels. The Academy – Bank of America's onboarding, education, and professional development organization uses AI to provide interactive coaching through conversation simulators that enable teammates to practice different types of client interactions and increase proficiency through real-time feedback. Employees completed over 1 million simulations last year, with many noting that practicing client conversations helps them deliver better and more consistent service. Additional AI deployments underway helping to increase employee productivity and improve client service include: Coding assistance – Bank of America software developers are using a GenAI-based tool to assist with code writing and optimization, through which they have experienced efficiency gains of over 20%. Preparing for client meetings – Developing materials in preparation for meetings with current and prospective business clients can take several hours per meeting. AI helps automate and standardize the creation of drafts of materials for meetings with Bank of America Business Banking and Global Commercial Banking clients, with the opportunity for employees to reallocate tens of thousands of hours per year to client engagement and growth. Contact center optimization – A modernized desktop tool leveraging AI proactively provides guided assistance to customer service specialists in Bank of America contact centers, enabling them to deliver a more personalized client experience, increase client satisfaction, and reduce call handling times. Research summaries – An internally-developed GenAI platform enables the Global Markets sales and trading team to search, summarize, and synthesize our industry-leading research and market commentary more quickly and efficiently. AI Patent PortfolioBank of America holds nearly 7,400 granted patents and pending patent applications, the most U.S. granted patents of any financial services company. More than 1,200 of these patents are AI and machine learning focused – representing 17% of the patent portfolio – and more than half have already been granted. Other technology categories in which new patents were granted last year include information security, online and mobile banking, payments, data analytics, and augmented and virtual reality. This is thanks to the company's more than 7,800 talented inventors in 14 countries and 42 U.S. states, and a culture that empowers teammates to explore and develop innovative solutions for individuals and businesses globally. Bank of America spends $13 billion annually on technology, of which approximately $4 billion will be directed to new technology initiatives in 2025. Bank of AmericaBank of America is one of the world's leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 69 million consumer and small business clients with 3,700 retail financial centers, approximately 15,000 ATMs (automated teller machines) and award-winning digital banking with approximately 58 million verified digital users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 4 million small business households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and more than 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BAC). Reporters May Contact:Matt Card, Bank of AmericaPhone: Catherine Page, Bank of AmericaPhone: View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Bank of America Corporation
Associated Press
24-02-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Digital Interactions by BofA Clients Surge to Over 26 Billion, up 12% Year-Over-Year
20 million clients use Erica® to help manage their finances; interactions with AI-driven virtual assistant surpass 2.5 billion CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital interactions by Bank of America clients grew 12% last year, reaching an all-time record 26 billion interactions through a combination of digital logins and proactive alerts. Innovative digital capabilities are enhancing experiences for the company's more than 58 million verified digital clients and helping to drive business growth. Proactive digital alerts – A record 37.6 million clients, up 7% year over year, have opted to receive proactive digital alerts giving them real-time insight into their financial lives. These clients received nearly 12 billion proactive digital alerts in 2024 – an increase of 11% year-over-year. The most common alerts last year offered insights into account balances and virtual debit card usage. Client logins – Last year, clients also logged into their accounts 14.3 billion times to stay on top of their finances, including a quarterly record 3.9 billion logins in Q4, up 16% year-over-year. On average, clients log in more than once every day. Erica client interactions – Last year, clients interacted 676 million times with Erica, the most advanced and first widely available AI-driven virtual financial assistant, bringing total interactions since launch to more than 2.5 billion. 'Digital is the centerpiece of our relationship-driven strategy,' said Nikki Katz, head of digital at Bank of America. 'Erica serves a dual role in our clients' lives: a personal concierge and mission control for their finances, helping them make every day financial decisions more efficiently.' Erica was recently used to assist Bank of America clients in areas affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, and the Los Angeles wildfires. When clients asked Erica questions about the hurricanes or wildfires, they were given information about the Bank of America Client Assistance Program to help ensure they are aware of the financial support and other resources available to them. Over the last six years, Erica's capabilities have expanded to support individual and corporate clients, including within Merrill, Benefits OnLine®, and the company's award-winning CashPro® platform. Clients across Bank of America increasingly leverage Erica: Erica adoption – Approximately 20 million clients have used Erica, a 7% increase year-over-year. CashPro Chat–More than half of corporate clients used CashPro Chat, a virtual service advisor that leverages Erica technology within the CashPro banking platform. The questions CashPro Chat can assist with have more than doubled since its launch in 2023. Merrill client adoption – Merrill clients increased their use of Erica 13% year-over-year with a record 11.5 million interactions in 2024. Private bank client adoption – Private Bank clients interacted with Erica 690,000 times in 2024. Clients are increasingly leveraging digital to send and receive payments: Clients moving money – Record 38 million clients moved money digitally through approximately 3 billion transactions representing $2.3 trillion last year. Zelle adoption – Record 23.7 million Bank of America clients use Zelle® through which they sent and received a record 1.6 billion transactions in 2024 valued at $470 billion, up 25% and 26% year-over-year respectively. Zelle usage exceeds checks – Zelle transactions were nearly triple the number of checks written in Q4 last year. CashPro payment approvals –Corporate clients made over $1 trillion in payment approvals using the CashPro App, a more than 25% year-over-year increase. With a seamless experience, clients are leveraging digital to open accounts and explore a range of products. In 2024, Bank of America saw a record 55% of sales through digital, up from 49% last year. Bank of America continues to be recognized throughout the industry for its digital leadership, receiving nearly 250 accolades in 2024. Most recently, Bank of America was named: Best Mobile Banking App by Forbes #1 Overall for Online Banker Scorecard and #1 Overall for Mobile Credit Card Scorecard by Keynova Best Digital Consumer Bank in the U.S. by Global Finance World's Most Innovative Bank – 2024, Most Innovative Bank in North America by Global Finance Best Bank App Virtual Assistant by Ascent North America's Best Digital Bank, Western Europe's Best Digital Bank, North America's Best Bank for Small to Medium-sized Enterprises, by Euromoney Bank of the Year for Best Customer Experience, Best Mobile Technology Solution for Treasury, and Best Solution Innovation – Data Analytics by Treasury Management International Bank of America Bank of America is one of the world's leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 69 million consumer and small business clients with 3,700 retail financial centers, approximately 15,000 ATMs (automated teller machines) and award-winning digital banking with approximately 58 million verified digital users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 4 million small business households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and more than 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BAC). Matt Card, Bank of America
