First National Bank (FNB) is using artificial intelligence (AI) and financial planning tools to help its financial advisors execute their tasks, while reducing administrative workloads.
The bank says it has introduced an internal technology-driven advice platform that combines AI capabilities, financial planning calculators and advisor tools to support client engagements with its financial advisors.
The AI platform acts as a co-pilot for financial advisors, taking over repetitive administrative tasks, while assisting with personalised financial planning to scale their services and focus on holistic wealth management.
Speaking to ITWeb, Keshani Ganasen, integrated advice CEO at FNB, said the initiative, which is in pilot phase, forms part of FNB’s broader strategy to build trust with customers through consistent advice experiences, regardless of whether clients engage through digital channels or human advisors.
“We believe trust is largely built on two things: competence and consistency,” said Ganasen. “At the heart of our approach is a shared advice platform that powers both customer-facing financial planning tools and the systems used internally by advisors. The goal is not to replace advisors but to allow them to focus on building client relationships and delivering better financial outcomes.”
Last week, FNB introduced My Advisor, a digital financial guidance tool to help South Africans better understand and manage their finances amid growing economic pressure.
According to Ganasen, the same retirement and financial planning calculations available to customers through FNB’s digital channels are also used by advisors when helping clients make financial decisions.
“The tools that are being used by the advisor, the calculations are actually the same calculations you will get if you go into our retirement and personal finance tool today,” she explained. “It’s to build consistency. The answer is always the same. That’s fundamental for us because we want to build consistency in outcomes.”
While the underlying calculations remain identical, advisors add an additional layer of professional judgement and personal understanding that cannot be replicated through technology alone, she pointed out.
“Our advisors are skilled and experienced and they are there to use their judgement to be able to understand who the client is – something that technology couldn’t do, and you are actually looking for a human to understand.
“With that, what we try to do is make sure they are also able to use their own analysis and discretion to offer clients the best professional advice, while freeing up capacity so they don’t have to worry about the paperwork and all of that.”
Across the globe, financial institution are increasingly using to AI to handle many of the time-consuming tasks involved in client interactions.
These tools often include generative AI-enabled tasks, assisting with a range of functions, including summarising meetings, transcribing conversations, drafting follow-up e-mails, preparing client notes and assisting with the creation of financial plans.
AI is also being used by financial advisors to analyse investment portfolios, assess cash-flow scenarios, and analyse and identify potential investment risks.
FNB says while its platform’s functions are in testing phase and are therefore limited, with time it will perform a wider range of tasks through self-directed evolution.
While FNB has not publicly named the platform, Ganasen states it combines third-party technologies with internally-developed capabilities tailored to the bank’s requirements.
“It’s developed by a combination of vendors and bespoke internal builds, with the aim to solve the need for speed, scale and efficiency. In time it will be performing a wider range of tasks and, at the right time, we will officially roll it out.”
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