SINGAPORE — Singapore’s second-largest bank, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (OCBC), plans to hire 600 additional relationship managers over the next three years, its executives said on Wednesday at the launch of its artificial intelligence (AI) avatar app for wealth clients.
Group CEO Tan Teck Long said he expects the bank to spend more than SG$1 billion ($771.78 million) annually over the next few years on OCBC’s AI, digital and data initiative.The OCBC WoW app will initially be offered in beta form to selected employees and customers by invitation. The invited customers have at least SG$1.5 million in assets under management and are served by OCBC Premier Private Client Advisers.Two AI avatars interact with customers by voice or text in English in the beta version. They will display investment portfolios, personalized market news, price data and OCBC Group insights linked to each customer’s holdings.The bank has invited 50 customers to try out the beta version over the next six months, before launching it to other clients in its wealth segment over the following 12 months.OCBC has yet not set a final date for full rollout. It plans to include regional languages before expanding the app into insurance, rewards and other banking services.Tan said the lender was “changing the face of banking” by using avatars and personalized services, starting with wealth management.The move is part of OCBC’s Next Frontier Strategy, announced in February, which puts AI, digital services and data at the center of its next stage of growth.The app will later add more languages, insurance products and banking services, OCBC said.
