BMO Launches Personal Banking Chatbot on Facebook Messenger

The Bank of Montreal (BMO) has launched a personal banking chatbot on Facebook Messenger, a partnership with Vancouver-based Finn AI. The partnership means it is “the first ever public launch of a chatbot with a national, tier one, Canadian bank.”

The chatbot will let customers use natural language to talk to it on Messenger. According to BMO, in Canada 84% of the population access Facebook via smartphones, with 38% performing mobile banking tasks from these devices.

Bmo facebook chatbot

Brett Pitts, Chief Digital Officer, BMO Financial Group, said in an issued statement to iPhone in Canada, “The launch of this chatbot, and the integration of AI into our customer facing technology, provides an opportunity to build upon the relationships we have with our digitally active customers and create more convenient and personalized experiences through both self-service and assisted service channels.”

The new chatbot on Messenger is named BMO Bolt and can answer 250 “common” questions, such as those related to banking products, foreign exchanges rates, branch locations, ATMs and more, 24 hours per day and 7 days a week. Customers will also have the opportunity to speak to banking associates during business hours.

As for other financial institutions in Canada using chatbots on Messenger, Alberta’s ATB Financial has one, similarly powered by Finn AI, but it can make payments for customers.

Utilizing Finn AI technology, the BMO chatbot will get smarter over time as it interacts with BMO customers—click here to check it out on Messenger.

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