Fintechs Brex and Bluevine are implementing AI within their products and operations to save time and keep up with volatile market conditions.

Expense management and financial services provider Brex has embedded AI-driven tech in: 

• Assistants; 

• KYC and onboarding; and 

• Client servicing. 

The Salt Lake City-based company introduced its AI-driven accounting assistant in 2023 and has seen widespread adoption, Erica Dorfman, executive vice president of global financial products, told Bank Automation News.  

Businesses using the accounting assistant collectively saved 169,000 hours per month on average in documentation and accounting, Dorfman said. The AI assistant screens all transactions to check compliance with a company’s spend control policies, categorizes them and files them in minutes instead of the hours it would take to accomplish manually, she added.  

More than 30,000 businesses use Brex services, including DoorDash, Anthropic, SeatGeek and Robinhood, according to the company. 

Brex is also using AI to assist risk managers in underwriting credit, Dorfman said. The tool helps aggregate FICO scores, evaluate cash flow statements and verify documents, making the underwriter more efficient. 

AI for underwriting 

SMB banking service provider Bluevine also uses AI for underwriting, Aditya Narula, senior vice president and general manager of lending and credit, told BAN. 

Bluevine has been using machine learning to help underwriters for years, Narula said. AI has improved risk assessment and faster document verification for underwriters. 

Bluevine’s AI model, built in-house, can collect FICO scores, assess cashflow statements, analyze checking accounts, track spending patterns and evaluate headwinds a business might experience to help underwriters better understand the risk associated with a loan, Narula said. 

“Our ability to ingest more data, our ability to categorize that data, our ability to intelligently parse that data, has obviously improved as AI tools have become more prolific,” Narula said. 

Nearly 60% of SMBs in the United States don’t have enough working capital to last for more than a month, he said. With AI, Bluevine can identify clients that might need assistance and proactively tailor products to meet their needs, he added. 

Other FIs using AI for underwriting include: 

• $1.1 trillion Lloyds Bank;  

• $2 billion Commonwealth Credit Union; 

• $942 million Freedom Bank; and 

• $659 billion U.S. Bank.