Today Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) announced that mobile banking deposit customers nationwide now have access to a predictive banking feature that analyzes account information, providing mobile app users with tailored account insights and personalized financial guidance.
The feature is the latest in a series of innovations aimed at providing customers a more comprehensive view of their finances, and increased control to advance their financial health and meet financial goals.
Insights range from flagging higher-than-normal automatic monthly payments so that customers may look into a change to a reoccurring bill, to reminding a customer to transfer money from savings to a checking account to avoid a possible upcoming overdraft. Conversely, if a customer has more money than usual in a particular month, they may be prompted to transfer money into savings. Currently there are over 50 different prompts a customer can receive based on past and expected future account activity, with plans to continue adding new insights regularly. The feature will expand to small business and credit card customers later this year. Visit Wells Fargo Stories to see this technology in action.
“We understand the importance of not only providing customers with insight into their spending habits, but providing it to them where they already are, which is increasingly on a mobile phone, and in a format that allows them to take immediate action,” said Katherine McGee, head of Digital Product Management for Wells Fargo Virtual Channels. “Predictive banking is another tool to help customers lead financially healthy lives.”
The predictive banking feature aims to streamline the abundance of information available in customer accounts. For instance, upon buying an airline ticket, a customer may be prompted to set up an account travel plan for their upcoming trip, alerting the bank to potential transactions in other states/countries and avoiding potential issues with their cards. Customers can access the predictive banking insights by tapping the blue light bulb icon on the account information screen of their mobile banking app.
“We’ve been exploring how AI can help our customers improve their financial health in the moment,” said Steve Ellis, head of the Innovation Group. “This tool gives our customers insight into how they’re managing their finances, and it’s presented in a way that is personalized and easy to understand. Having information in the palm of their hands can help lead customers to take action and make more informed financial choices.”
Wells Fargo is simplifying and enhancing its customers’ digital experience through a series of recent product announcements including Control Tower, Zelle person-to-person payments, data exchange agreements with several popular financial management tools, an artificial intelligence-driven chatbot experience pilot for Facebook messenger, digital wallets, card-free ATMs, and more.