August 30

Hyper-specific (and privacy-preserving) customer analytics tools allow financial institutions to better understand their digital users, which can spur product tweaks, faster bug fixes, and better design choices.

FullStory – which just secured $25 million in equity financing – helps customers like KeyBank, Travelers Insurance, Fidelity Payment Services, and Metromile understand how people are using their apps and websites.  

Its platform records a user’s interactions and then allows clients to analyze customer sessions either in aggregate or individually to root out moments of churn or friction (like repeated “rage clicks” if something isn’t working) and improve engineering efficiency (by helping tech workers pinpoint bugs, for example). 

“We have helped clients find anything from millions to tens-of-millions in conversion opportunities, or lost customers through churn, or in costs for engineering and development,” FullStory chief marketing officer Kirsten Newbold-Knipp told Insights Distilled. For example, Finicity, a financial data aggregation firm owned by MasterCard, estimates that it increased its funnel conversions by 15% and reduced its ticket resolution time by 80% using FullStory.  

“The fact that FinServ customers know they’re further behind on digital means that now is the time to leap-frog,” Newbold-Knipp added. With comprehensive, private-by-default customer tracking, FullStory helps clients find all the “unknown unknowns” and “marry the quantitative and the qualitative to get answers faster.” 

Giving customers greater control over their first names can build trust and loyalty for financial institutions, while presenting a relatively minor technical hurdle.  

A whopping 70% of transgender and nonbinary individuals say their legal identity doesn’t match their current chosen name and Citi will now make it easier to reflect people’s personal choices. On Monday, the bank announced that it will now allow customers to assign a preferred first name to their debit cards, in accordance with Mastercard’s True Name program.  

The policy affects a person’s name across their cards and in Citi communications, though the bank still needs to collect legal first names for “know-your-customer,” security purposes. While expanding this policy is not a huge technological challenge (it essentially adds an additional data field and requires training for staff, according to one expert), it is still not widespread practice among financial services institutions.  

“This is one more way for us to help our customers to be their most authentic selves when banking with Citi,” head of US retail banking Craig Vallorano said in a statement to Insights Distilled. 

Meanwhile, a spate of neobanks is using True Name capabilities and other features to set themselves apart by appealing to LGBTQ customers. 

AI-powered digital assistants can reduce call center volume and boost customer satisfaction by answering questions about routing numbers, balances, credit scores, bills, and more.  

Using chatbots to handle routine customer questions or guide users through new product sign-ups has become an increasingly common way for financial institutions to save resources and answer questions quickly or outside of business hours.   

In the past six months, BankSouth’s Kasisto-powered smart assistant, Rita, has spurred a 30% reduction in call center call volume and boasts a 96% containment rate (which means that customers are almost always getting their questions answered without needing to speak to a human). BankSouth director of marketing and digital banking, Neil Hediger, estimates that having Rita answer questions that would otherwise have been made via phone call during business hours have saved the bank more than $20,000 so far this year. 

Kasisto also counts JPMorgan Chase, Standard Chartered, and TD as customers. Meanwhile, US Bank, Ally, and Santander rely on Personetics while Bank of the West, BNP Paribas, and Deutsche Bank use Glia (an Insight Partner’s portfolio company).   

One of the biggest challenges to achieving AI and machine learning goals is securely storing and managing huge quantities of sensitive data, so tools to simplify the process are a must-have.

Truist has purchased key strategic assets from data technology firm Zaloni to accelerate its data governance, metadata management, advanced analytics, and its AI/ML programs. The $545 billion-asset bank will use Zaloni’s technology to launch new, personalized services more quickly.  

“In short, this acquisition of key strategic assets allows us to see more, know more, and do more,” Truist chief data officer Tracy Daniels told BankingDive. Without sophisticated management tools, data will remain an under-utilized goldmine asset for banks.  

A team of 20 Zaloni workers, including chief product officer Ben Sharma and CTO Ashwin Nayak, will join Truist as part of the acquisition; neither company disclosed financial terms of the deal.  

In the past week, five major Canadian banks gave their quarterly peek behind the curtain. Their Q3 reports and analyst calls highlight how tech improvements are helping them score new business or increase customer satisfaction, and how it’s crucial to divide tech spend between “running the bank” and “changing the bank”:

$1.4 trillion-asset TD Bank increased its tech and equipment spend 12% year-over-year to ~$360 million and highlighted a new AI-based phone system for its insurance business that matches clients with the right advisors to help it speed up and improve its customer service, as well as.  

$1.3 billion-asset Royal Bank of Canada reported 8.3 million active digital users during Q3, a 5% YoY increase, and reported that NOMI, its AI-backed digital assistant that analyzes customers’ spending habits, has delivered 2.8 billion insights to clients so far. 

$999 billion-asset Scotiabank added 150,000 new members to its rewards program, Scene+, which allows members to earn points by using its mobile app to make purchases. It also launched Scotia TranXact, a real-time payments service for business clients, in Q3.  

$693 billion-asset Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reported 6.2 million active digital banking users, a 41% year-over-year increase. It also highlighted how it will continue its investments in digitization, cloud-based technology, and increasing data connectivity across businesses.  

$387 billion-asset National Bank of Canada increased its technology spend to $103 million, including “projects to enhance client experience and acquisition,” as well as invest in “systems, processes, and cybersecurity.” 

Bank of Montreal reports later on Tuesday.