NatWest pilots AI-powered spending insights tool

By Divya Shah

NatWest Group has begun testing a fully generative audio-visual Spending Insights tool that allows customers to discuss their finances through natural voice or text conversations. 

Initially being trialled with customers of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the tool offers a real-time conversational AI experience that enables users to ask questions about their spending, budgeting and financial habits in a natural way.  

The AI can respond to follow-up questions, handle interruptions and adapt to changing topics during conversations. 

The Spending Insights tool converts transaction data into personalised insights, interactive visuals and graphs designed to help customers better understand their finances and identify opportunities to save money. 

The solution has been developed by its Chief AI Research Office and is powered by the bank’s proprietary Small Language Model, reflecting its efforts to build in-house AI capabilities tailored to customer banking needs. 

“Customers are already using AI as part of their everyday lives, and that is raising expectations of what great banking should feel like,” said Solange Chamberlain, Retail CEO at NatWest Group. She added that the bank is combining AI capabilities with human expertise to provide more personalised support and help customers make informed financial decisions. 

Alongside the Spending Insights pilot, NatWest has introduced a Fraud Triage Agent within its digital assistant, Cora. The feature allows customers to describe suspicious credit card transactions in their own words and receive guidance to the appropriate fraud, scam or dispute support service without manually categorising the issue. 

The launches coincide with NatWest Group’s latest AI Adoption Report, which highlights growing customer engagement with AI technologies.  

The research found that 57% of customers are using AI more frequently than they were six months ago, while 40% use AI tools daily or on most days. Around 22% of respondents said they use AI platforms for financial information and advice. 

The research also showed that customers are using AI to find financial products and deals, obtain savings tips, understand financial terminology and identify potential scams. Additionally, 64% expressed interest in AI support during the mortgage process. 

More than 80% of respondents said access to a human representative remains the most important factor for confidence in AI-powered financial services, while transparency, reliability and regulatory oversight were also identified as critical requirements.