Virtual banking assistants seem to be all the craze lately. Just ask Bank of America, whose Erica crossed 3.5 million users, or Capital One’s Eno which claims to have one of the highest user ratings and can even communicate with consumers through text outside the banking app.
For many banks, a virtual assistant is already on their innovation roadmap, whether by building in-house or using third-party AI-providers like Personetics or Kasisto. But when it comes what tasks these assistants can actually perform, there are only a handful of common transactions at the moment.
In a poll conducted by Bank Innovation, readers, predominantly from the fintech and digital banking community, were asked, “What does your virtual assistant do?”
About 49% of respondents said their virtual assistants can only perform simple transactions like checking balance, scheduling bill payments, or search for nearby branches.
Only 4% said their assistants can perform complex tasks like give investing and wealth management advice, or advice on mortgages and other loans. Budgeting and spending advice seem to be gaining popularity, with about 8% of respondents saying their banks’ virtual assistant can carry out this task.
And yet, a large group of respondents (about 34% of those surveyed) said their banks or FIs do not have a virtual assistant.

Bank Innovation’s poll was conducted on its site between September and mid-October.
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