CaixaBank robot answers the most customer questions

CaixaBank’s artificial intelligence (AI)-based virtual assistant has answered more questions for more customers than any other support channel, after four million people used the service.

The Spanish bank said the CaixaBankNow virtual assistant receives an average of 50,000 questions a day, either spoken or written, to help access services such as making payments or blocking lost cash cards.

A CaixaBank statement said: “The online assistant offers immediate answers on a wide range of topics, such as the features of banking products and services, how to take out a product or stepping customers through the process of restoring their digital banking password. It also lets customers make an appointment at their branch, check their balance and activity, and carry out simple operations, such as blocking cards or sending money through the Spanish mobile payment solution Bizum.”

The main queries addressed to the virtual assistant were customers asking about bills, deposits, accessing the Bizum mobile payments system, and making appointments with in-branch advisers.

The AI assistant also supports the bank’s staff in offering answers to questions and is an example of how digital transformation at banks goes beyond transforming customer engagements with chatbots or replacing repetitive manual tasks with robotic process automation software.

The CaixaBankNow AI is also capable of answering questions from CaixaBank’s employees, such as those involving internal rules and technology, and can answer more than 1,500 questions in different languages.

The bank added: “Now CaixaBank is applying all the power of AI to develop tools for its managers and customers, and for other strategic objectives, such as employee training.”

In 2020, the bank introduced AI as part of its internal training platform to help its staff understand what training they could benefit from and help them to access it.

Courses in languages, executive skills, digital skills, finance and risk management, among others, are offered through the service.