The AfDB announced last year that it had approved a grant of just over $1m to support the creation of AI-backed systems to process customer complaints for the national banks of Ghana and Rwanda, and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission of Zambia. A chatbot, or chatterbot, is a software application used to conduct an online chat conversation via text or text-to-speech, in lieu of providing direct contact with a live human agent. With literally millions of data points being created in a single day at major banks, humans are unable to comb through all the information fast enough. Automated AI systems can flag up potentially fraudulent activity and push this to skilled staff in the form of alerts, allowing personnel to focus on the most important tasks easily. For some banks, the idea of adopting AI solutions can seem like a complex undertaking, especially for those institutions that have legacy infrastructure where data is stored in disparate silos.

Christine Wu, Managing Executive, Customer Value Management at Absa Retail and Business Bank, views artificial intelligence (AI) as an important enabler of the journey to a new banking model that is truly responsive to customer needs. "All areas of the bank's operations can benefit from AI – from the frontline, where we can make use of smarter profiling and customer interactions that are needs-based and tailored to a customer's profile, to customer servicing, where we can include clearer and more bespoke solutions to customers before they even ask – such as the automation of repetitive tasks," says Wu. AI is often defined as human-like intelligence achieved by machines – any system that "perceives its environment and takes actions that maximise its chance of achieving its goals". Advanced AI, according to experts, is also capable of learning and problem-solving. AI has been taken up enthusiastically across Africa, although the expert view is that it needs some fine-tuning to adapt to the African social and cultural environment. Still, the potential is as great in the banking landscape as it is in online and mobile transactions.

CallMiner, the leading provider of speech and customer interaction analytics, announced that African Bank has selected the CallMiner Eureka platform to better extract and operationalize insights from voice-based customer interactions. "With CallMiner, we will be able to create an even stronger customer experience by analyzing what our customers need, how they feel, and what we need to do, to deliver exceptional value and service," said Basani Maluleke, CEO of African Bank. "African Bank is fast becoming a pioneering data-driven South African organization and our partnership with CallMiner is another part of our journey to make our organization synonymous with data excellence and to enhance our digital transformation. At the core of our data strategy are our customers – to create an inclusive, personalized banking experience for them and we believe CallMiner provides another tool to bring us one step closer to achieving this." CallMiner Eureka leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze every customer interaction, across all channels, to automatically uncover actionable insights and intelligence that organizations can use to improve business decisions.

CallMiner, the leading provider of speech and customer interaction analytics, today announced that African Bank has selected the CallMiner Eureka platform to better extract and operationalise insights from voice-based customer interactions. "With CallMiner, we will be able to create an even stronger customer experience by analyzing what our customers need, how they feel, and what we need to do, to deliver exceptional value and service," "African Bank is fast becoming a pioneering data-driven South African organization and our partnership with CallMiner is another part of our journey to make our organisation synonymous with data excellence and to enhance our digital transformation. At the core of our data strategy are our customers – to create an inclusive, personalised banking experience for them and we believe CallMiner provides another tool to bring us one step closer to achieving this." CallMiner Eureka leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyse every customer interaction, across all channels, to automatically uncover actionable insights and intelligence that organisations can use to improve business decisions. African Bank will start analysing voice interactions through its three contact centres initially.