One signal

Some US banks are testing AI agents to clean up internal data and help staff spot which small-business customers may be at risk of leaving. The aim, according to bank executives quoted by American Banker, is to give relationship managers better information, not hand customer relationships over to a bot.

Capitol National Bank says it is using agents for back-office tasks such as fraud and money-laundering detection, and developing a model that ranks customers by deposit activity and other signs they might move their business. Citadel Federal Credit Union’s banking chief says AI could help staff make sense of research and customer data that is otherwise difficult to manage. The practical appeal is clear: better-prepared staff, rather than an automated voice asking whether you have a moment to discuss your account. But the bank executives also say governance needs to come first, while regulation may have to catch up.

Discuss: Should banks use AI to steer staff towards customers at risk of leaving, or does that make a personal relationship feel a little too much like a prediction?

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