TD Bank’s commercial banking arm is looking to AI to understand and predict customer needs to sell targeted products, Chris Giamo, executive vice president and head of commercial banking, told Bank Automation News at Finovate Fall 2023. 

“Banks inherently have a tremendous amount of data. … We’re spending a lot of time on data and analytics, on how do we get that data in usable forms, and then you overlay artificial intelligence onto that,” Giamo said. Leveraging AI enables the bank to understand “what their [customers’] behaviors are, what products they may or may not need.”

For example, if the $386 billion TD Bank knows that a commercial customer accepts payment in checks or cards, the bank can suggest an upgrade to its payments channels or provide merchant services to them, Giamo said. 

Data-based innovation

AI is enabling TD Bank to provide highly personalized and seamless services to its customers while maintaining the human touch, Giamo said.  

The retail banking industry develops and adopts technology quickly, and commercial banking is quick to follow, he said. But with a new generation of digitally native banking customers, commercial banking will have to adapt quickly to meet the customers where they want to be met, he said. 

That’s where data comes in. 

The bank’s team is trained to “understand the products and services and technology enough to deliver them and introduce them to the customers,” Giamo said. On the flip side, “[for] our tech teams and innovation teams, if they don’t understand what it’s like with the businesses and how they consume, they cannot come up with good products.” 

TD is exploring enhancing its personal finance management tools by leveraging AI-driven predictive analytics to help consumers control spending in real time.  

If used properly, AI can help financial institutions integrate intelligent insights into models that help the bank better serve its customers, Giamo said.

The bank increased its non-interest expense to $1.8 billion in the third quarter of 2023, up by 5% year over year, driven by more investment in technology.