RBC is eyeing web development and additional saving and investing capabilities for its digital assistant NOMI as adoption and usage climbs for the bank’s AI-backed tool.

“We’re going to be using NOMI this year to further simplify saving and help clients get into areas of investing,” said Rami Thabet, vice president of digital products at RBC. The bank is also looking at increasing transparency around upcoming transactions and spending patterns, he added.

Currently available on mobile, RBC is also working to bring NOMI to the bank’s web-based platform “soon,” Thabet said, without disclosing timeline details.

NOMI, the Toronto-based bank’s virtual assistant, launched in 2017 and has grown to handle a variety of different banking services. RBC partnered with conversational AI firm Personetics, which also works with U.S. Bank and Ally, to launch NOMI and the bank has since built its own functionality on top of Personetics’ tech.

The $1 trillion bank launched Ask NOMI in March 2020 to answer customer questions around spending habits; it had introduced NOMI Budgets the previous year to help customers control their finances. NOMI Find & Save, which launched in 2017, uses predictive technology to find money customers can spare and automatically sets it aside for them.

RBC has seen an uptick in traction for the Find & Save tool, and has now cumulatively saved more than $1 billion for users. There are about 300,000 net NOMI Find & Save accounts, with numbers growing consistently month over month, according to company spokesperson Rob Merk.

The idea of automated savings has picked up steam in recent months. Chase Head of Digital Allison Beer predicts automation will shape consumer saving habits in 2021, as enrollment in the $3.2 trillion bank’s automated savings tool also gains traction.

“Customers want to have personalized insights about their spending, savings and credit scores. They want to be able to use that information in a tailored way,” Beer recently told BAN when predicting consumer banking trends in 2021. “Second is automation. It’s all about improving customer experiences and making it easier for customers as they engage with their bank.”

Bank Automation Ignite, taking place March 2-3, 2021 as a virtual experience, is the event for inspiring automation initiatives and investment in financial services. Formerly the Bank Innovation Ignite conference, this new focus creates an event where financial services professionals can discover new use cases and technologies that are accelerating automation in banking. Learn more and register for the event at www.BankAutomationIgnite.com.