Arabnet Arabnet

According to a survey conducted by Accenture, 76% of worldwide banks will deploy Artificial Intelligence (AI) interfaces as their primary point of interaction with customers within the three years to come.

These results are mainly due to the fact that many analysts believe that the use of AI in their daily tasks will allow banks to save up to $1T by cutting down on their expenses whilst optimizing their performance.

Namely, banks’ use of AI can revolutionize the customer relationship management by providing personalized recommendations of products based on their customer's habits and needs. Additionally, AI interfaces can offer customers with personalized financial advice and portfolio management that cater to their subject's financial plans.

Banks functioning in the MENA region have also started shifting their dependency on human capital to AI as they have seen the positive impact of such a shift both on time and efficiency. The new services introduced the use of AI interfaces that include chatbots and robo-advisors as well telecommunication companies’ expansion into Fintech.

Chatbots

Chatbots are AI softwares that can maintain any conversation with humans without any human intervention from the backend since they are automated chat systems.

Employing such a tool in banks can reshape their customer support by proving to be more time and cost efficient than employing human sales or service representatives. In addition to that, conversations between clients and chatbots are more secure now that the software adds an extra layer of biometric security for their customers.

Jordan Ahli Bank introduced a Ahlibot, a chatbot to conduct customer service through Facebook Messenger.

Boubyan Bank launched Msa3ed App an AI-based chatbot service to help customers to execute transactions faster and get shortcut answers to their frequently asked questions and requests.

Bank Audi introduced chatbot ‘Andi’ as a personal digital assistant on Facebook Messenger to answer FAQ and guide customers with simple requests.

Robo-advisors

Also a digital platform, robo-advisors provide various automated and algorithm-driven financial planning services with little to no human intervention. Those services range from tax-loss harvesting and investment selection to retirement planning. Just as chatbots, robo-advisors provide banking and financial services at lower costs, more efficiency, and greater investment outcome.

NBK Capital invests in startup Neo to launch SMART WEALTH robo-advisor service which enables customers to access global markets. Gulf Bank has launched WISE as an advisory portfolio management service for high net worth customers to help them invest in international markets. 

Telecommunication and Fintech

A decade ago, most banks would necessitate your physical presence at the bank in order to perform any financial transaction. Recently, not only have financial institutions seen the importance and need of shifting from human to technology, but major telecommunication companies also began expanding into issuing Fintech services, mainly focusing on payments in the MENA region.

Zain, a Saudi telco company, has launched the first phase of Zain Cash, a mobile e-wallet service at Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals offered by Middle East Services (MEPS). Another Saudi telco, STC, is expanding into digital payments by launching a mobile wallet named STC Pay for the local consumers.

Employing the different AI interfaces in several day-to-day financial transactions provides the banks’ clients with an improved customer experience whilst saving banks time and being more efficient and accurate.