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Top Finance Chatbots for Banks and Personal Finance

Jacquelyn Dunham

9 min read

Feb 7, 2024

Infusing convenience and technology into personal finance and banking is no longer an added benefit. It’s now a requirement to remain competitive with other institutions leveraging advanced technology. A recent study found that 48% of bank customers manage their accounts using apps and other mobile devices. 

Banks and other financial providers are turning toward finance chatbots as a cost-effective solution to online account management. In this article, we’ll cover the basics of finance chatbots, including the common use cases, benefits, and top contenders in the banking and personal finance industries. 

What is a finance chatbot? 

Finance chatbots are computer programs in the financial industry that stimulate human conversation through text and voice commands. They communicate with clients, providing 24/7 support and access 365 days a year. Advanced finance AI chatbots use natural language processes (NLP) backed by machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to harvest previous interactions and improve responses. 

Finance chatbots handle many of the mundane and repetitive questions that customers ask. This includes questions surrounding upcoming due dates, transactions, and pending payments. Customers no longer need to wait two to three business days for someone to review their request. They have access to instant answers. 

Chatbot use cases in banking and personal finance

Finance AI chatbots provide various services, including customer service, onboarding, quote generation, and client support. Some finance chatbots even have the ability to approve customers for loans and insurance claims instantly. 

Here are five of the most common use cases of chatbots for finance companies: 

1. Expense tracking

Many customers are taking a proactive approach to finances. They want real-time spending alerts and expense reports on demand. Financial chatbots provide this information, removing the need to visit the bank in person or wait days for a live representative to respond to inquiries. Expense tracking with finance AI chatbots allows users to track spending more accurately and saves your agents time. 

2. Financial advice

Businesses can set up financial chatbots to answer common questions about the customer’s account, such as their bills, pending payments, and recent transactions. Any questions outside of this realm will be sent to a representative to avoid mistakes. 

3. Account analysis

Personal finance chatbots transform the customer’s banking experience. By simplifying operations with 24/7 account analysis, you are delivering value to your customers. For example, customers can text the chatbot inquiring about their available balance. They have an answer in minutes, infusing speed and accuracy into the entire process.

4. Fraud detection

One of the fastest-growing concerns of customers is fraud. Finance chatbots give your customers peace of mind, with bots in place to detect any suspicious activity. They monitor your customer’s account, alerting the customer and the bank of any suspicious activity or transactions. Customers can freeze their cards at a moment’s notice with finance chatbots.  

5. Balance notifications and bill reminders

A chatbot for financial services has built-in features that benefit both you and the customer, including balance notifications and bill reminders. Life gets busy. A finance chatbot can send a push notification, email, or text to the customer about upcoming payments and low balances.

The benefits of financial chatbots

Chatbots generate benefits outside of customer experience, including lead generation, reduced bottlenecks, and an improved competitive advantage. Here are some of the main benefits of financial chatbots in the financial sector:

Lower costs

Although financial chatbots don’t eliminate the need for human agents, they can reduce the number of agents on call. This lowers your customer service operating costs. The complexity of your finance chatbot will determine your projected cost savings. For example, a blended system with chatbots and live agents will cost more than a chatbot-only system. 

Expanded customer feedback 

Gathering customer feedback is difficult. Most customers aren’t willing to wait on the phone for an extra five minutes to complete a survey after they’ve been on hold for an hour. Finance chatbots infuse speed into the entire process. It’s not uncommon for a customer to have their questions answered in minutes.

A positive experience prompts feedback, which is vital for growing businesses. Customers prefer a conversational approach to feedback rather than spending ten minutes going through a questionnaire. A finance AI chatbot facilitates open dialogue while protecting your customers' sensitive information. 

Efficient processes 

Chatbot efficiency is founded on speed and accuracy. Unlike a live agent, finance chatbots handle hundreds of inquiries at any given moment without sacrificing quality. This alleviates pressure on your live agents, allowing them to focus on the tasks the chatbot can’t handle. Finance chatbots streamline your workflow by removing bottlenecks and only pushing complex requests to your agents. 

Proactive customer engagement 

Chatbots for finance businesses have built-in upsell and cross-sell potential. They can cross-sell your financial products based on the customer’s latest interaction, producing personalized solutions. This makes browsing websites easy for banking customers when they can turn to a personal finance chatbot to answer immediate questions. 

Engagement is also supported by fostering strong relationships with customers. A recent study shows that 43% of respondents prefer online banking chatbots rather than going to an in-person branch. 

The best finance chatbots for banks and personal finance and why

Financial services chatbots are a relatively new concept in the finance realm. Although there are not hundreds of providers to sift through, you must decide which finance chatbot fits your business’s needs the best. 

ChatBot

ChatBot provides AI-powered chatbots that answer customer questions. ChatBot has a no-coding chatbot setup and faster customer support, with agents available 24/7. One of the main advantages of ChatBot is that the system doesn’t rely on third-party providers, like OpenAI, Google Bard, and Bing AI. All data is processed and housed only in the ChatBot platform. 

ChatBot has seamless integrations with common providers, such as Shopify and WordPress, and provides transparency in workflow with customizable reports. The main downside of ChatBot is that the pricing is higher than other run-of-the-mill finance chatbots. However, banks and personal finance providers have access to more features with ChatBot. 

Pros: 

• 24/7 support with no dependencies on third-party providers.
• Data is processed and hosted only in the ChatBot platform.
• Quick and accurate AI-generated answers specific to the finance industry.

Cons: 

• Pricing can be high compared to other providers. 

TARS

TARS helps banks and personal finance businesses optimize conversion funnels and automate some of their customer service features. Online banking users will be greeted by a finance chatbot and asked if they need assistance. This infuses an interpersonal component into the interaction. 

However, TARS’ finance chatbot is not designed to give your customers complex information and can only answer basic questions about your services. Nevertheless, TARS offers over 1,000 different chatbot templates, with over 300 templates specific to the banking industry. 

Pros:

• Hundreds of chatbot templates.
• Simple setup and configuration.
• Geolocation data collection features.

Cons:

• Limited customer insights.
• Minimal customization ability. 
• Poor connection with Google Analytics.

Haptik

Haptik looks to revolutionize businesses outside of customer service with virtual assistant capabilities and purchase support. This allows businesses to streamline workflows and operational efficiency. All segments of Haptik lead back to customer experience, prioritizing customer needs at every step. 

Haptik’s finance chatbot generates personalized recommendations for clients, supports the buying process, and displays reviews from past customers. These features focus on closing the deal. The main drawback of Haptik is that there are no real-time reports and limited guidance for customers using the chatbot. 

Pros:

• High-level analytics.
• Back-end customer support.
• Pre-defined processes that cover common issues and questions.

Cons: 

• Limited guidance on the Smart Agent Chat feature.
• No real-time reports.
• Lower focus on personal financial solutions.

Kasisto

Kasisto is designed specifically for financial institutions. This provider delivers on-demand financial customer service using AI and financial expertise to evaluate past account activity and make realistic recommendations. In addition, Kasisto’s chatbot can answer common service requests, like billing information and account balances. Customers can choose how they use the chatbot, from text and touch to voice commands. 

Kasisto also offers a multichannel experience, giving financial institutions the insights needed to make future improvements to product and service offerings. 

Pros: 

• AI training and analysis.
• Multiple communication modes.
• Intent builder. 

Cons: 

• Frequent glitches.
• Lower report generation features. 
• Focuses only on customer service. 

Kore.ai

Kore.ai uses finance bots to help businesses increase efficiency. This platform organizes procurement tasks by importance, ensuring operations flow smoothly. Kore.ai positions itself as back-end support, helping your accounting and finance team stay on track with invoice processing, expense tracking, and general reporting. 

As a result, Kore.ai isn’t the best program for financial institutions looking for front-end support. Although the platform does have some conversational AI components that answer basic customer questions and populate balance notifications, it lags compared to other options. 

Pros: 

• Three NLP engines: fundamental meaning, machine learning, and knowledge graph.
• Back-end report tracking and analysis.
• Over 30 third-party platform integrations.

Cons:

• Limited front-end reports and statistics.
• Minimal customer service options.
• Bugs in chat and session management. 

AlphaChat

AlphaChat is a finance AI chatbot that uses NLP to generate human-like interactions. This program reduces the workload of your live agents by taking on common FAQs and general questions. AlphaChat also has a bilingual option for international finance organizations. 

Like many other platforms, AlphaChat integrates with other business apps, like Messenger and WhatsApp. However, there is a limited function for intents and minimal insights into past interactions. This leads to shortcomings in your upsell and cross-sell strategies. 

Pros: 

• Multiple language options.
• Extensive reports and analytics.
• Customizable chatbot answers.

Cons: 

• Poor cross-sell and upsell strategies.
• No visual flow of prior chat history. 
• Scheduling and hiding are not possible.

Growthbotics

Growthbotics is a personal finance chatbot platform that offers AI predictions about customers with bad credit scores and non-paying clients who apply for loans. Through its integrative platform, Growthbotics aims to automate the loan application and customer onboarding processes. 

Moreover, Growthbotics appeals to the startup crowd, with services surrounding raising funds and obtaining investors on behalf of your customers. However, Growthbotics can be complicated to set up and customize to your business’s needs. 

Pros: 

• Face security and tokenization.
• Loan application and customer onboarding automation. 
• Fundraising capabilities.

Cons: 

• Complicated to get set up.
• Limited customization.
• Minimal back-end support.

Choosing the right option 

Which one is right for your business? Many of these providers offer a personal finance chatbot designed to meet your business’s needs. However, some finance chatbots are more advanced than others. Pick two or three providers from this list and complete a trial period to find out for yourself. 

Additionally, check past and current customer reviews, reach out to the company for an exclusive demo, and compare price plans. Conducting research before signing up with a finance chatbot can save you a headache down the road.