Backbase has launched Conversational Banking in general availability, an agentic AI offering that lets bank customers and employees use natural-language conversations to initiate and complete banking tasks while operating within institution-defined permissions, policies, and approval requirements.
The new capability runs on Backbase’s AI-native Banking OS and is designed to move digital banking beyond providing customers with access to information and toward allowing AI agents to execute approved actions on their behalf.
Customers can use voice or text to describe what they need without navigating through multiple menus or workflows.
For example, a customer could ask to block and replace a lost card, check the status of a payment or advance an existing service request.
Backbase’s AI agents interpret the request, use available customer context and connect with relevant banking systems to complete actions the bank has authorized them to perform.
When a request requires investigation, an exception or human judgment, the platform can transfer the matter to an employee along with relevant customer information and a summary of the work the AI agent has already completed.
The approach aims to reduce repetitive information gathering and give employees more time to handle advisory conversations and complex customer requirements.
Backbase sees Conversational Banking as part of a broader shift from traditional digital self-service toward agentic banking, where AI systems can take action rather than simply provide answers.
The company cited McKinsey & Company estimates indicating that agentic AI could reduce banking operating costs by between 15% and 20% by automating routine requests and reducing repeated information gathering.
Backbase is building governance directly into how its agents execute banking tasks.
Financial institutions determine which information, knowledge and tools an AI agent can access, which actions it is permitted to perform and which activities require human approval.
Consequential requests also require explicit confirmation from the customer before they are completed.
The platform maintains records covering the context surrounding requests, checks performed, decisions made and eventual outcomes, giving banks an auditable history of agent activity.
This governance model is designed to allow financial institutions to introduce more autonomous AI capabilities without giving up control over customer interactions or regulated banking processes.
Conversational Banking is already operating in production at more than 10 banks.
Backbase said one of South Africa’s four largest banks has used the technology across 22 million customer interactions while increasing its self-service containment rate from 20% to 70%.
Meriwest has also deployed Backbase’s conversational AI and reported savings through increased automation and call containment alongside improvements to the customer service experience.
At VeraBank, the technology has been used to consolidate multiple information sources into a searchable environment where employees can ask questions and retrieve information needed to assist customers.
Backbase designed Conversational Banking to operate alongside banks’ existing technology stacks.
Institutions do not have to replace their current online or mobile banking platforms to begin using the technology.
Instead, a bank can initially deploy Conversational Banking for selected use cases, connect the systems needed for those workflows and establish the permissions and controls governing how the agents operate.
That approach gives banks the ability to gradually increase the range of activities handled by AI agents as they gain operational experience with the technology.
Conversational Banking also serves as an entry point into Backbase’s broader Agentic Banking portfolio.
The portfolio includes Relationship Intelligence, which is designed to identify and anticipate customer needs, and Customer Operations, which coordinates fulfillment across employees, teams, and banking systems.
Backbase is bringing the products together around what it calls a Unified Frontline, where customers, bank employees and AI agents work from shared context while operating under authority defined by the financial institution.
The company believes this structure lets AI agents handle higher volumes of routine work while keeping direct relationships between banks and their customers, rather than shifting those relationships to third-party AI platforms.
Backbase’s Banking OS provides the underlying orchestration layer connecting the conversational interface, AI agents, customer information and existing banking infrastructure.
Conversational Banking is now generally available.
KEY QUOTES:
“Digital banking put the bank in the customer’s pocket. The next step is to let customers say what they need done and have the bank’s agents act on it intelligently. That future has now arrived early: one where agents do the work, and banks stay in control. It completely changes both the customer experience and the economics of serving them.”
Jouk Pleiter, Founder and CEO of Backbase
“Backbase’s conversational AI has delivered real business value. We’ve seen tangible savings through increased automation and call containment while giving customers a faster and more convenient service experience.”
Gene Fichtenholz, CTO at Meriwest
“Backbase brought all our sources of truth together and gave our employees a single, searchable home for information. They simply ask a question and get the answers they need to support and serve our customers.”
Michael Purifoy, Senior EVP and Chief Treasury and Digital Banking Officer at VeraBank
