Bank of America has deployed its AI assistant Erica internally, freeing up resources by saving employees thousands of hours spent previously on remedial tasks. 

Erica, which launched in 2018, has been assisting the $3.1 trillion bank’s team with automating data input, conducting research and analytics, and coding, Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said during the bank’s first-quarter earnings call in April.

“Since incorporating Erica into our internal processes, we’ve heard from teams across the country that utilizing Erica’s capabilities to compile client information saves our bankers hours of research and manual work,” Jorge Camargo, senior vice president of digital product management at Bank of America, told Bank Automation News.  

Since the AI assistant has successfully helped clients manage their finances, the bank decided to integrate the technology into its internal processes, Camargo said. 

The internal launch of Erica is in line with the bank’s digital efforts. Bank of America has leaned on technology to streamline operations and enhance efficiencies for years, Moynihan said, noting AI allows the bank to scale without growing its team. For example, the bank now employs 216,000 people, down from 285,000 in 2010 as technology use has grown.  

In addition to internal benefits, the client-facing side of Erica helps free up resources as more clients look to the chat function, Camargo said. For example, Erica saw a 25% year-over-year increase in usership to 17.8 million users in the first quarter, and a 35% increase in interactions YoY to 166 million, according to the bank’s Q1 earnings presentation. 

The bank continues to invest in Erica, Camargo said. “Every three weeks or so, our content tuning team updates Erica to be event smarter by increasing the number of questions clients can ask and the number of answers Erica can provide.” 

FIs bring in the bots

Several banks are looking to AI to streamline workflows. For one, Morgan Stanley is using OpenAI’s ChatGPT 4 within its financial adviser business.  

“The work we are doing with [OpenAI] will allow us to bring our expansive intellectual capital into the hands of our financial advisers in seconds. It will be like having our chief investment strategist, chief global economist and global equities strategist on call for every financial adviser 24/7,” Jeff McMillan, head of analytics, data and innovation for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, previously told BAN. 

Michigan State University Federal Credit Union, too, launched an internal-facing AI bot, Gene, which saves 2,000 employee hours annually, MSUFCU Chief Research and Digital Experience Officer Ami Iceman-Haueter said at Bank Automation Summit U.S. 2023 in March. 

Ultimately, the hours saved are resulting in improved satisfaction from both customers and employees, Camargo told BAN. 

“We knew Erica would integrate seamlessly into our internal processes, helping our employees better manage their workload and, therefore, better serve our clients,” he said.