92 Human bankers can then step in to continue the conversation, but the early workload is handled automatically via AI Agents.” In addition, agentic AI supports bankers in navigating compliance-heavy environments. Instead of searching for legal clauses or regulatory updates during a conversation, a compliance agent surfaces the right information or documents at the right moment. Research tasks – such as analysing corporate entities, financial filings or market events – can also be automated, letting bankers focus on insights rather than data collection. “Research takes time,” explains Hamblin. “Agents can guide bankers through it, pulling information together so they don’t have to do the heavy lifting.” Even seemingly simple self-service use cases like answering FAQs and escalating issues can reduce friction for both customers and bankers. Unlike traditional chatbots, which are reactive, agentic AI can proactively surface information when customers might need it, such as during market changes or product updates. Wells Fargo developed an agent using Microsoft Copilot Studio and Teams to help its 35,000 retail bank employees across 4,000 branches navigate procedures, regulations and complex banking systems. The agent provides instant access to guidance on 1,700 internal procedures, so employees can quickly locate the information they need without having to get support from a colleague. Now, 75 per cent of searches happen through the agent, cutting response times to customers from 10 minutes to just 30 seconds. Lending is one of the most critical banking processes, involving multiple departments, strict compliance and sensitive financial data. A lot of the process consists of back-and-forth communication with customers, document intake and verification steps, complex financial modelling and risk assessments, all ideal candidates for agentic AI intervention. Platforms like Marble, a lending-as-a-service solution by Microsoft partner Tesselate, “What if you could have an AI agent dynamically reprice lending offers based on changes in the market?” Employees across 20,000 Edward Jones branches are using agentic AI to better serve their customers Photo: Edward Jones FEATURE
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