Commerzbank has launched an AI assistant in its app to help customers with their banking transactions.

Called Ava, the assistant can interact with customers and provide both general and personalised advice on banking services such as which financial products are available.

The avatar, which is based on AI technologies from Microsoft Azure, combines AI with a human component, with Ava is modelled on the likeness of an actress.

Ava can carry out the digital execution of banking transactions directly within the dialogue, including ordering a new credit card, blocking or unblocking a current credit card, or changing limits.

For more complex inquiries, customers are referred to experts in the bank’s customer centre.
Commerzbank added that the assistant will be gradually rolled out, with its services expanding based on customer feedback.

Ava will initially be available in German, with a later version in English.

Commerzbank said that when developing Ava, it built the model to “very high” security standards, ensuring that regulatory requirements relating to AI were taken into consideration.

“Commerzbank is one of the first banks to combine generative AI and avatar technology in a customer application - by introducing Ava, we are setting a new standard in digital banking,” said Thomas Schaufler, board member for private and small-business customers at Commerzbank. “Our goal is to provide our customers with suitable solutions that make their everyday banking transactions as quick, easy, and convenient as possible.”

Several other international banks have also recently implemented or expanded their AI assistants, including BBVA, which updated its AI-powered virtual assistant Blue to include account and card management capabilities in February.

The revamped chatbot will now be using natural language to provide services including tailored information on client finances, as well as perform some of the most common account and card transactions thanks to its large language models (LLM) interpretation and language generation capabilities.

In January, the chief information officer (CIO) at Goldman Sachs said that the bank will implement a genAI assistant that will someday mimic the traits its seasoned employees.

In an interview with CNBC, Marco Argenti revealed that Goldman has rolled out its GS AI assistant to 10,000 bankers, traders and asset managers, with plans to expand this to all the bank’s knowledge workers this year.

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