Bank of America’s digital offerings continue to be a draw, as its virtual assistant Erica reached 2 billion user interactions in the first quarter. 

“Erica continues to drive increased digital engagement, in part because it gives us the ability to deliver important information to clients and answer their questions in real-time,” Jorge Camargo, managing direct of mobile app, online banking and Erica AI at the $3.2 trillion bank, told Bank Automation News. 

Across the 2 billion interactions, Erica reached 19 million users, up from 17. 8 million in Q1 2023, according to the bank’s earnings presentation.  

“Since its introduction about six years ago, it took four years to reach 1 billion interactions, it took just 18 months to reach the second billion,” Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said today during the bank’s Q1 earnings call.  

Other milestones for the virtual assistant: 

• Erica has responded to 800 million inquiries. 
• More than 42 million clients have asked Erica to answer simple questions. 
• Erica has provided personalized insights more than 1.2 billion times.  
• More than 98% of clients get answers from Erica within 44 seconds. 

BIGGER PICTURE: Erica’s capabilities have expanded into other areas of the bank including Merrill, Benefits Online and CashPro, Camargo told BAN. “Erica is an integral complement to all new digital capabilities we build,” he said. 

During the quarter Tom Durkin, global product head of CashPro at Bank of America, spoke at Bank Automation Summit U.S. 2024 in Nashville, Tenn.  

Adoption of the bank’s virtual assistant CashPro Chat, with Erica technology, has reached 60% of commercial clients since its launch in May 2023, Durkin said at the summit.  

Overall digital adoption at the bank continued to tick up during Q1, according to the bank’s earnings presentation. In the quarter, active digital usership grew 4% year over year to 47 million.  

BY THE NUMBERS: Bank of America also reported in Q1: 

• Headcount fell 2% YoY to 212,335; 
• Efficiency ratio was 67%, up from 62% in Q1 2023; 
• Zelle transactions volume increased 26% YoY to $106 billion; and 

• Total revenue fell 2% YoY to $25.8 billion. 

FORWARD LOOK: Non-interest expenses, including technology spend, increased 4% YoY to $3.5 billion in Q1. In the second half of the year, the bank expects “digital engagement savings and operational excellence initiatives should help us offset other cost increases for people and technology,” Chief Financial Officer Alastair Borthwick said on the earnings call.  

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