Macquarie Bank customers will be able to use a new AI support agent to interact with the financial institution’s services around the clock, to perform common tasks and to find further information.
Named Q, the AI agent can be accessed via the Macquarie Mobile Banking app, as well as Macquarie’s online banking site.
It uses natural language processing (NLP) to handle customer queries about services and accounts, with customers being able request to speak to a human during business hours, if Q cannot answer a particular query.
Q is in-house developed and driven by Macquarie Intelligence, which a bank spokesperson said represents the “combined knowledge and expertise of our people with advanced technology and AI”.
The bank would not disclose further technical detail on Q, but the AI agent is said to be exclusive to Macquarie bank.
Macquarie Bank chief digital data and AI officer Ashwin Sinha said Q has been extensively tested from the beginning to accurately answer the most commonly asked questions by customers.
It also uses two-factor authentication (2FA) for security, and encryption to protect customer data and conversations with the AI.
Sinha added that Q is designed to “evolve quickly as more people use it”.
Macquarie Bank will expand Q’s capabilities with new features based on real customer feedback, Sinha said.
The overall aim of Q is to give the bank’s customers more control, confidence and convenience in how the manage their money, Sinha added.
Last year, Macquarie Bank said it had more than 30 AI-augmented products and services in the works for 2025.
At the time, the bank’s chief digital officer Luis Uguina said 97 percent of the financial institution’s workloads were running on public cloud.
Speaking at Google Cloud Next 25 in Las Vegas, United States, Uguina suggested the real potential of AI went beyond efficiency and cost reduction and would instead drive revenue while keeping customers happier and reducing their cognitive loads through implementing the technology.