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Introducing Bud’s agentic banking capabilities and consumer banking agent

Written by Bud | Sep 24, 2024 12:00:00 PM

We’re excited to announce Bud’s very first agentic banking capability* for financial institutions — a consumer agent that can be embedded into GenAI and customer-facing product suites to help individuals optimise their finances.

What Bud’s consumer banking agent can do today

Our consumer agent is trained to understand a consumer’s financial history and position, and - using that information - continuously and autonomously direct tasks to achieve objectives. 

Today, it’s trained to improve the amount of money a consumer earns in interest, help ensure they meet their financial obligations and avoid entering an unnecessary overdraft by taking direct actions such as moving money autonomously between accounts like checking and savings. 

“At Bud, we already have a technology stack that understands financial data like no one else in the market. That means our agentic capabilities are built on top of reliable individual context, something which is missing from many GenAI financial agents,” said Edward Maslaveckas, CEO and Co-Founder of Bud.

The value of agentic banking and consumer models

Initial use of Bud’s consumer agent has led to spectacular results. Analysis of the customer base of a US bank indicated that had this agent been running, it would have generated at least $500 in profit over the course of one year for more than 27% of customers. This is a very simple way to increase a customer’s savings without lifestyle changes or a spending reduction. 

For a low-earner profile, the agent would have effectively protected customers from overdraft fees, resulting in an average of $460 in fees avoided – and, for some customers, avoided fees were in the thousands of dollars.

“We know that supporting consumers with their finances grows deposits and improves customer loyalty and lifetime value. These agents are just the beginning. The learnings and techniques we have developed with the consumer agents are now being used to develop agentic models to run processes in the bank such as data analysis and personalisation,” continues Edward Maslaveckas. “Our ‘Drive’ product customers will be able to switch these on for testing as they are released over the course of the next year. Every part of the bank can benefit from these models: fraud, AML, marketing, pricing, credit decisions, and risk management – the applications of agentic technology are far-reaching and hugely impactful for the banking sector.

The future of agentic consumer models with Bud

Over time, we also plan to add further actions and objectives to our consumer agent to build on its ability to understand and optimise a consumer’s finances including credit scores, debt management and wealth.

"AI is undoubtedly going to transform banking over the next decade. The sector is acting now, laying the groundwork by investing in robust data infrastructure and exploring generative AI to streamline operations and deliver deeply personalised experiences for customers,” says Justin Greenstein (CEO, 1835i). "Bud is at the forefront of AI capability, and the agentic capability released today, positions them ahead of the curve setting a new standard in the personalisation space. In a future where AI-led innovation will be critical, having a platform that seamlessly combines customer insight with operational efficiency isn’t just a competitive advantage — it’s a necessity."

Learn more about Bud’s agentic banking here