As competition to banks increases, customer acquisition is becoming increasingly important. By offering various types of rewards and point programs, banks are competing against each other as well as fintechs, not just to get new customers but also to keep existing ones. Making it easier for people to open new accounts could make a big difference, and one technology to help with that is the virtual assistant.

“Artificial intelligence can be very helpful here,” Jeffrey Brown, senior partner of banking and financial services at consulting firm Genpact told Bank Innovation. “Banks should use virtual assistants for tasks like opening new accounts.”

Brown pointed to a recent Genpact survey in which one in four people said they are comfortable with a digital assistant such as Siri, Alexa or a bank’s own service to open a new account for them.

Using virtual assistants to accomplish something like this shouldn’t be viewed as a way to cut costs, but as a way to leverage service, Brown said. The fact the same survey showed 57% preferred opening accounts in branches as opposed to doing it digitally, may mean that banks have not been able to create a digital experience that provides superior service to the one customers are getting from going to a bank branch. (Or it could mean, per Brett King, that banks are skewing numbers by forcing customers into the branch.

“It has to be about simplicity and convenience,” Nicolas Kopp, CEO of challenger bank N26, told Bank Innovation. “You need to make it as simple and clean as possible for the customer to do their banking, but also to open accounts and sign up for new products.”

Kopp recently moved to New York from Germany to prepare for N26’s US launch. There is no launch date set for the digital-only bank, but Kopp told Bank Innovation it will happen later this year.

As for virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, all of which were a popular topic at the FinovateSpring conference in Santa Clara, Calif., last week, customers still cannot use them to open a bank account. This is mainly because of compliance issues and security-related concerns. But the day isn’t far from when it will be a reality.

‘If you look at the Genpact report it might seem like only a small percentage of people would use a virtual assistant to open an account” Brown said. “But really, it’s a significant number because it shows the direction the industry is taking.”

Brown points to the car insurance industry as an example. An industry that was once heavy on agents for a user to buy the service, is now almost done entirely functioning without that middle person.

The same thing could happen with banks, Brown said. And indeed, some U.S. banks are looking into launching their own virtual assistants. Bank of America, for instance, launched Erica in March. Erica, which is currently available in ten states, is gradually being rolled out across the country to help users with tasks like opening accounts.

For the survey, Genpact worked with research firm YouGov. Over 6,000 customers across the US, UK, and Australia were interviewed for the survey in December 2017.