Academy Bank is developing a generative AI knowledge base to make operations more efficient and reduce costs. 

The $3.4 billion bank plans to use Microsoft Copilot to deploy an internal tool to help customer service representatives find rules quicker and assist clients better, Chief Executive Paul Holewinski told Bank Automation News. The development of the tool is 80% complete and the bank expects to roll it out in the coming months. 

Read more: Academy Bank’s AI initiatives 

“This particular innovation is replacing more of an old school method that we had set up of chat rooms where we have subject matter experts that monitor the chat rooms depending upon the topic,” Holewinski said. “Now our representatives don’t have to wait for an expert to respond to a query that a client has and can tackle that on their own.”

Holewinski expects the tool’s impact to be immediate, he said, adding that “the speed to service will be greatly enhanced.” 

Kansas City, Mo.-based Academy Bank has more than 90 branches.

Preference toward agentic AI 

While deploying AI tech, the company is leaning more toward agentic AI over large language models like ChatGPT, Holewinski said. 

“With agentic AI, we can focus on getting the low-hanging fruit like trimming operating costs and making us more efficient quicker. … The impact is much quicker,” he said. “You can find real concrete examples and use cases with agentic AI.” 

Other uses of agentic AI in the bank’s pipeline include: 

• BSA compliance; 

• Vendor review analysis; 

• Report generation; and 

• Loan prospecting for commercial clients. 

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