Backbase has made Conversational Banking generally available, enabling AI agents to carry out bank-approved actions for customers and staff.
The release brings agentic AI into both customer-facing and employee-facing banking experiences. Users can describe what they need in natural language, and AI agents convert those requests into banking actions. The agents operate within the permissions, policies, and approval rules set by each institution. Examples cited by Netherlands-based Backbase include blocking and replacing a lost card, checking a payment, or moving a service request forward within a single conversation.
Agents draw on customer context and connected banking systems to complete the tasks they are authorised to perform. When a request calls for investigation or human judgement it is passed to an employee together with the relevant information and a summary of the steps the agent has already taken.
Backbase describes the launch as a step away from simply giving customers digital access to their bank and towards having the bank act on their behalf. The company expects this to change both the customer experience and the cost of serving customers.
An estimate from McKinsey & Company supports the cost argument. It suggests that agentic AI could reduce banks' operating costs by 15% to 20% by automating routine requests and limiting repeated information gathering. Employees would then have more time for advice, exceptions, and complex cases.
Governance built into the Banking OS
Conversational Banking runs on Backbase's Banking OS, which is where the controls sit. Banks decide which data, knowledge sources, and tools agents can use, which actions they may take, and at which points human approval is needed. Consequential requests need explicit confirmation from the customer. Records of context, checks, decisions, and outcomes are kept to support audit and oversight.
The product runs alongside existing digital banking infrastructure. Banks can start with selected use cases, connect the necessary systems, and adjust their controls without replacing their online or mobile banking platforms.
Deployment and results so far
Conversational Banking is already in production at more than ten banks. At one of South Africa's top four banks, the system has handled 22 million customer interactions to date, and self-service containment has risen from 20% to 70%.
Gene Fichtenholz, CTO at Meriwest, said the deployment had produced measurable savings through higher automation and call containment, and had given customers faster services. Michael Purifoy, Senior EVP – Chief Treasury and Digital Banking Officer at VeraBank, said Backbase had brought the bank's sources of information together into one searchable resource.
Conversational Banking is positioned as an entry point to Backbase's Agentic Banking portfolio. The portfolio also includes Relationship Intelligence, which is designed to anticipate client needs, and Customer Operations, which organises fulfilment across teams and systems.
