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4. Chatbots in Financial Services
erica, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
• What: make payments; check balances; save money; pay down
debt; look at educational videos; etc.
• Like: Lots of work went into teaching erica to learn conversational
nuances and conversational contexts
• Bot is also being trained to find insights for customers and make
recommendations: e.g. if a customer’s FICO score dropped, for
instance, erica might suggest better money habits, drawing on a
partnership with Khan Academy, a provider of educational tools.
The chatbot may identify ways the customers could save more or
pay down debt. erica could help customers avoid mistakes like
missing a mortgage payment.
• Next steps: BoAML is looking at integrating the technology with
mainstream virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri. Working proof of
concepts already exist 23
Wells Fargo
• What: account balance reporting; finding closest branches;
providing spending breakdown; launched May 2017
• Next steps: the bot is powered by machine learning, i.e. an
engine that learns over time, so eventually its keyword responses
will be replaced by full conversation. Once the bot has mastered
the art of conversation, it will learn emotional comprehension 24
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