Nationwide has unveiled plans to expand the use of genAI from Microsoft.

The building society, which is the largest in the world, is already using the technology to handle customer queries.

It has rolled out genAI to help generate letters, with average response times having dropping from 45 to 10-15 minutes – an efficiency improvement of around 66 per cent.

Nationwide's technology strategy & enterprise architecture director Paul Ballard said that successful integration of its data to support customer relationship management will pave the way for more genAI applications in future.

The director says that the contact centre, credit risk assessment, economic crime monitoring, its virtual assistant 'Arti', and CO2 emissions reporting are examples of where the technology could be expanded to.

The comments come after Swindon-based Nationwide, which has absorbed around 250 smaller building societies over its history, used Microsoft's cloud platform to consolidate and centralise its large data estate.

It then applied a unified, open data analytics platform and a cloud analytics and data platform to analyse and maintain the centralised data. This means that Nationwide staff can access information they needed in one place.

“Generative AI will enable us to offer more tailored digital propositions, improve service, and optimise decision making, risk management and operational efficiency,” said Ballard.
“Whether it’s in customer service or elsewhere, AI gives us an opportunity to evolve not only what we do, but also how we do it.

"That, in turn, can help us create more connected and engaging experiences for Nationwide members and colleagues.”

Last Summer, Lloyds Banking Group and Nationwide participated in a £11 million funding round for Scottish FinTech Aveni.

Aveni creates large language models (LLMs) and AI products designed specifically for the financial services industry in areas including risk management and compliance.

The FinTech has used the funding to develop an LLM in partnership with both financial institutions.

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