U.S. Bank is bullish on the customer use of digital channels after an uptick in digital banking activity spurred by the pandemic, according to the bank’s second-quarter earnings call.

“Shelter-in-place orders early in the quarter and temporary branch closures due to COVID-19 has led to an increase in digital adoptions,” said Andrew Cecere, CEO of U.S. Bank. “We expect digital adoption by customers to stick, even after the economy is fully reopened.”

U.S. Bank saw a 5% increase in total active customers using digital channels year over year, a jump to 77% of total customers during the second quarter. Nearly 76% of all transactions were made online in Q2 compared with 67% the year prior, and 46% of total loan sales were completed online in the second quarter, up from 35% in Q2 of 2019.

U.S. Bank is working with a variety of tech vendors to overhaul its digital channels. The bank uses Blend’s white label loan application technology, and partnered with the conversational AI company Personetics to develop AI-powered insights.

Alyson Clarke, principal analyst at Forrester Research, previously told Bank Innovation that the AI insights tool will help the bank engage customers looking to take action to improve their financial health. “This isn’t table stakes,” Clarke said. “Think of it like a personal financial coach. These things are only going to get better and smarter over time.”

See also: US Bank eyes ‘autonomous banking’ future

The Minneapolis-based bank, which has more than $546 billion in assets, processed $7.3 billion under the Small Business Association’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), with an average loan size of $73,000, during the second quarter, said Terrance Dolan, vice chairman and chief financial officer at U.S. Bank.

“PPP will actually, probably help from a growth standpoint as we think about the second quarter, but it does start to dissipate in the third quarter and fourth quarter, simply because of the loan-forgiveness program,” Dolan said. “Excluding the impact of PPP, average loans grew 8.5% YoY, primarily driven by growth in commercial loans and in mortgage loans.”

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