Transforming Banking Service Experiences with AI-Powered Voice and Digital Assistance

Overview

A U.S.-based regional financial institution serving both retail and business customers set out to modernize its customer service operations. With more than one million customer calls annually and growing expectations for always-on banking support, the bank faced increasing pressure to deliver fast, accurate service without continually expanding agent headcount.

The bank partnered with Kore.ai to implement AI for Service, leveraging AI for Banking to replace its legacy IVR and fragmented digital experiences. The goal was to enable effective self-service across voice and digital channels, reduce operational strain on human agents, and deliver a more intuitive, conversational banking experience with seamless escalation when needed.

The Challenge

The bank’s existing customer service model relied on a legacy IVR that trapped customers into rigid call flows and repetitive loops. When customers were unable to resolve issues through self-service, they defaulted to human agents, increasing handle times, operational costs, and agent workload.

Key pain points included:

• Frustrating IVR experiences that limited successful self-service and drove callers to live agents
• High volumes of repetitive banking inquiries handled manually by human agents
• Rising telephony and support costs tied to voice-heavy service demand
• Limited ability to deliver 24/7 support without increasing staffing
• Inefficient escalations, where agents lacked full interaction context

The organization needed a modern, banking-specific solution that could automate common requests, support customers around the clock, and preserve a smooth, context-rich handoff to human agents for complex issues.

The Solution

The bank implemented AI for Service from Kore.ai, deploying banking-specific AI Agents through the AI for Banking solution to front-end customer interactions across both voice and digital channels. These prebuilt AI Agents understand hundreds of common banking intents out of the box, guiding customers through secure, conversational self-service.

Key elements of the solution included:

• Voice and digital AI Agents for banking self-service, enabling customers to resolve routine requests such as balance inquiries, account updates, payments, card services, and transaction questions through natural language
• 24/7 automated support, with seamless escalation to human agents when customer needs required judgment or assistance
• Context-aware handoff to live agents, ensuring full interaction history is passed along to reduce repetition and handle time
• Core system integrations, including:
  
  • Core banking systems for real-time account and transaction data
  • Online and mobile banking platforms for consistent digital experiences
  • CRM integration to support customer context and service continuity
• Secure authentication workflows aligned with banking and regulatory requirements

By replacing its traditional IVR with intelligent, banking-aware automation, the bank established a unified service layer that balances self-service efficiency with human support where it matters most.

Business Impact

Since go-live, AI for Service has become a foundational part of the bank’s customer service strategy, delivering measurable improvements in efficiency, cost control, and customer access.

Key outcomes included:

• Over 2.6 million customer sessions supported, expanding access to banking assistance without increasing agent staffing
• More than 5 million minutes of automated voice interactions handled annually, significantly reducing workload on live agents
• 85.7% containment rate for Digital and 42.4% for Voice.
• Improved agent capacity, allowing human agents to focus on complex, high-value customer needs
• More consistent customer experiences, across voice and digital channels, with fewer failed self-service attempts

Together, these results show how the bank modernized service delivery, reduced operational strain, and improved customer experience through intelligent automation.

The Kore.ai Advantage

Kore.ai enabled the bank to modernize customer service using an agentic AI for Service platform purpose-built for financial services. With AI for Banking, Kore.ai delivers prebuilt, secure AI Agents that understand banking-specific intents, integrate deeply with core systems, and support both voice and digital channels within a unified architecture.

This foundation allows the bank to scale self-service effectively, preserve high-quality human support for complex scenarios, and continue expanding AI-driven banking experiences over time.