Bank of America expects to save tens of thousands of employee hours through a generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) assistant in its Global Payments Solutions (GPS) division.
The assistant, known as AskGPS, was built by an in-house team and the company described its introduction as a “bold leap forward” in how it applies GenAI to its business.
AskGPS provides services to more than 40,000 businesses and governments across the world, and it will support the bank’s staff in providing answers and advice. During development, it was trained on more than 3,200 internal documents and presentations, including product guides, term sheets and frequently asked questions.
“AskGPS turns institutional knowledge into real-time intelligence,” said Mark Monaco, head of GPS at Bank of America, adding that it goes beyond search tool functionality. “It’s a strategic engine, helping our teams respond faster and deliver the kind of clarity and advice clients expect in today’s environment.”
The bank said a “sophisticated inquiry” would previously involve an employee making phone calls to product specialists across different regions and time zones, taking an employee an hour to complete. But the same result is now almost instant – employees pose client questions and will receive answers within seconds, said the bank.
More than speed
As well as improving the speed that the bank responds to customer queries, AI enables it to offer more personalised services for customers and to improve advice through human agents using AI to access information.
Jarrett Bruhn, GPS division head of data and AI at Bank of America, said: “AskGPS is a bold leap forward in how we harness GenAI across the enterprise. By turning static content into dynamic intelligence, we’re not just improving access, we’re transforming how our teams learn, respond and lead with insight.”
Bank of America has 69 million consumer and small business customers in the US. It stated that it is using AI in four main areas: intelligent agents, search and summarisation, content generation, and operations and coding.
In the UK, the number of banks reporting productivity gains from AI has doubled as projects move from pilots to production. According to Lloyds Banking Group’s latest Financial institutions sentiment survey, 59% of surveyed firms reported AI-driven productivity gains in the past 12 months, compared with 32% in the 2024 survey.
Banks also reported rising returns from AI in other areas. The latest survey found that 21% of respondents believe AI is directly driving business growth, compared with 8% in the survey a year ago.
Meanwhile, a third (33%) of respondents said AI is enhancing customer experiences, up from 14% in the previous survey. The same number said they have deeper customer insights through AI, compared with 18% in 2024’s survey.
Digital challenger Zopa Bank also recently released survey findings that back the claims of productivity gains. Its survey, carried out with Juniper Research, revealed that UK banks could save £1.8bn over the next five years as a result of investing the same amount in AI, with large gains to follow. It found that 187 million hours would be saved, mainly as a result of back-office efficiencies.
