DBS adds agentic AI to virtual assistants for customers

DBS has added generative AI and agentic AI functions to its virtual assistants, DBS Joy and DBS digibot. The services now reach more than 10 million customers across Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The expansion covers corporate, SME, retail and wealth users. DBS Joy can now carry out some banking tasks for business customers in Singapore within a single conversation. DBS digibot, which serves individual customers, has also been upgraded with new generative AI features across the three markets and will next add wealth-related conversations.

DBS Joy has moved beyond answering questions to handling simple actions after customers log in to DBS IDEAL, the bank's digital banking platform for businesses. Within the chat, it can respond to requests such as checking whether a payment was completed, whether money was transferred to a named company, or how much was paid in fees, using account and transaction data.

The updated service is available to 350,000 corporate users in Singapore, with another 100,000 users in Hong Kong due to receive it later. The assistant can act only when authenticated users initiate the instructions.

Demand for the business assistant has increased this year. In the first six months, chats on DBS Joy in Singapore rose 22%, while active users climbed 61%, helping cut customer service calls and emails by 7%. Customer satisfaction scores for DBS Joy rose 17% over the same period.

Retail volumes are larger. DBS digibot is available to more than five million customers in Singapore and another four million across Hong Kong and Taiwan. In the first half of the year, it resolved nine in 10 customer queries digitally without the need for a follow-up call.

Business use

The changes reflect a broader push by banks to use AI in front-line customer service while leaving more complex issues to human staff. Customer support will remain available for users who prefer to speak with a service officer.

For corporate customers, DBS is also adding live chat links to human agents when needed. It is also expanding the assistant's knowledge of SME banking products and programmes so business users can ask about solutions as well as servicing requests.

Derrick Goh, Chief Operating Officer at DBS, described the move as a new phase in how the bank is applying AI in day-to-day banking. "The true value of AI lies in delivering meaningful outcomes for customers at scale. Today, DBS Joy and DBS digibot serve more than 10 million customers across the region, enabling us to bring Gen AI and agentic AI into everyday banking interactions. Building on more than a decade of AI innovation, we are taking the next leap forward - moving from helping customers find information to helping them get things done. This is especially significant in corporate banking, where digital assistants remain uncommon and agentic capabilities even more so. By combining our deep digital capabilities, trusted customer relationships and proprietary AI platforms, we are reimagining how banking services are delivered," Goh said.

Retail and wealth

DBS digibot was first launched in 2016 and has handled routine retail banking queries for years, including card issues, refunds, fee waivers and remittances. The latest generative AI changes help the assistant understand requests better, respond faster and guide customers through routine banking tasks in a more natural conversation.

The assistant is also being integrated into digiWealth, DBS's wealth management platform for mass-market and emerging affluent customers. There, it will answer wealth-related questions and help customers contact their wealth planning manager when needed.

Later, DBS digibot is set to add agentic and voice AI features for selected customer journeys. These will include checking card usage, calculating reward points, requesting fee waivers, blocking or replacing cards, and handling some wealth servicing requests.

That would let customers move from asking a question to completing a task without switching channels. Both assistants will operate only after login through DBS IDEAL or DBS or POSB digibank, and only on instructions from authenticated customers.

DBS expects its virtual assistants to handle more than one million chats a month as the new functions are rolled out across its customer base. In the first half of the year, DBS digibot resolved nine in 10 queries digitally, without customers needing to make a follow-up call.