Expense management solutions provider fintech Brex is saving an average enterprise customer up to 300 hours per month in employee expense compliance efforts through its AI-driven Brex Assistant. 

The virtual assistant, which launched last year, has saved customers an annualized $18 million by blocking out-of-policy spend through AI-powered controls, Erica Dorfman, executive vice president of global financial products at Brex, told Bank Automation News, adding that consumers have shown high use and adoption of the OpenAI-driven chatbot.

Brex Assistant “automatically filled more than 450,000 reimbursements for employees through optical character recognition technology,” which has increased spend compliance by 145% on average for their customers, Dorfman said. 

The fintech’s platform is growing its customer base and deposits as businesses look for better digital banking capabilities, Dorfman said. Brex manages $7 billion in deposits as of June 2024, compared with $3 billion last March.  

Brex clients include DoorDash, Atari and Seat Geek, according to its website. 

New customers, new features 

The fintech has seen high account demand since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023, Dorfman said. 

“We saw that as an opportunity to really make sure that we were supporting our customers” and grow the business, she said. 

The San Francisco-based company onboarded nearly 4,000 business customers with $2 billion in deposits between March 9 and March 16, 2023, Dorfman said. 

“More than 90% of the customers that signed up during the week of the SVB collapse are still active Brex customers,” Dorfman said. “Broadly speaking, the customers who have churned have been smaller ones, while the large customers have remained.” 

To remain competitive and boost retention, Brex is adding features and services to its platform to meet evolving customer needs, Dorfman said. 

Last month, it launched the following products for startups: 

• Checking accounts powered by fintech developer bank Column N.A.; 

• FDIC deposit insurance of up to $6 million; and 

• Integrated treasury solutions. 

Brex is also looking to expand its offerings to cross-border payments, embedded finance, automated bill payments and centralized spending cards this year, Dorfman said. 

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