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Life Plan, a new functionality on Bank of America's website and
app, allows customers to set multiple goals like buying a home,
improving credit or saving for retirement, and uses its existing
trove of client data to serve them recommendations.
Such personalized advice used to be reserved for high-net worth
customers who had enough cash to retain a financial advisor to
help manage their wealth, but a host of digital budgeting tools,
like Intuit Inc's Mint app, have used artificial intelligence to
bring planning to the masses.
"Planning is no longer an activity that's born out of how much
money you have," said digital planning executive Evelyn Varner.
Bank of America, which operates one of the largest wirehouses
catering to America's richest households, has been building out
its product set to capture customers lower on the wealth
spectrum.
The tool, which launched nationally on Monday, has already
helped the bank better target customers, executives said. During
the eight-month long pilot period, Life Plan led to over 3,800
referrals for conversations with bankers.
It could also give the megabank more control over its customers'
data as they use the bank's tools over third-party applications,
executives said. Since Life Plan is linked to customers' bank
accounts, the bank can provide a fuller picture of someone's
financial situation without requiring multiple sign-ins or
verifications.
"We're not necessarily targeting and replacing something that
clients may be using or comfortable with," said Teron Douglas,
chief digital executive. "But it's certainly something that we
feel is going to naturally happen as the clients continue to
engage."
(Reporting by Imani Moise; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
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