Bunq AI chat bot handles 97% of customer interactions
$9B Dutch bank eyeing US expansion in 2026
Dutch digital bank bunq is running full bore with its AI initiatives as it works to enter the U.S. market.
Bunq’s AI chatbot, which launched in December 2023, now handles 97% of customer support activity, with 80% of interactions being fully automated, Chief Evangelist Joe Wilson, who acts as the primary ambassador for the bank, told FinAi News.
The chatbot, named Finn, “resolves support queries in just 47 seconds, when the industry average is one minute,” he said. “It even ensures that any request needing deeper knowledge is routed directly to the right human specialist. This performance has earned Finn a 90% user-satisfaction rate.”
The $9 billion bunq is powering Finn with models from OpenAI, Google, Llama and Anthropic, Wilson said, noting that the chatbot has resolved “millions of queries” since its launch.
The global market for AI chatbots is projected to reach $66.6 billion by 2033, up from $10.2 billion in 2025, according to research and consulting firm Market.us, citing financial services as a key growth driver.
Other financial institutions are using AI chatbots to drive substantial productivity gains. For instance, Bank of America has said its AI-driven virtual assistant, Erica, saved roughly 11,000 full-time equivalent hours in 2025.
In another example, fintech Bluevine’s chatbot is resolving more than 80% of customer complaints for its bank partners.
Bringing bunq to the U.S.
For Amsterdam-based bunq, “AI isn’t just another tool; it’s at the core of everything we do,” Wilson said.
“We are a tech company with a banking license, not a bank with a tech department.”
— Joe Wilson, chief evangelist, bunq
Roughly 90% of the digital bank’s operations are fully automated, Wilson said, embedding AI across every division, “from marketing to legal.”
The bank is also embracing generative AI, including speech translators for support calls, he said.
“We also use our proprietary AI to train fraud-detection models and enhance deepfake detection,” he said.
The bank sees significant opportunity abroad, with plans to enter the U.S. market, pending approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
While the U.S. has ample digital-banking providers, the bunq model “has been proven to meet the real and present need American users are facing.”
— Joe Wilson, chief evangelist, bunq
“For example, a U.S. college student studying abroad would typically face challenges opening an account,” he said. “An account with us would be opened easily and eliminates the need to carry multiple currencies, avoids high foreign transaction fees and allows them to manage and pay bills back in the U.S.”
Similarly, a European citizen who immigrates to the U.S. “would be able to open an account with bunq while seamlessly continuing to manage finances back home,” he said.
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