Virtual financial assistants: What's taking so long?

For those of us that are regulars at fintech and artificial intelligence (AI) conferences and follow the development and innovation around AI, virtual financial assistants (VFAs) have gotten a lot of attention at these events for a few years now. But lately it seems that VFAs might be becoming old news -- conferences have started moving onto other topics after focusing on conversational AI for several years in a row. So the questions many people have are: "What's taking so long? Why doesn't my bank have one yet?" The hype around VFAs and their benefits the last few years may seem new but it is not, it just got louder.