BMO uses AI helper to speed up credit card dispute calls

BMO has announced an AI helper for the employees who take credit card calls. The goal is simple: fewer minutes on the phone and faster refunds for Canadian customers with a problem on their card. The bank announced the tool, called AI Agent Assist, on Friday, Nov. 6.

What changed

The tool is for in-house use. Customers do not talk to it. It helps staff at BMO's Virtual Connect contact centre, which gets more than 500,000 card calls a year from Canadian clients. Each call now takes an average of 12 to 14 minutes.

BMO calls it agentic AI, meaning software that can carry out several steps on its own, not just answer questions. It matches transactions, finds the right bank policy and prepares the case for a worker to review. That should mean less hold time for callers.

• BMO hopes to cut call time by 20% to 30%.
• About 40% of eligible credit refund requests could be processed automatically.
• Qualifying customers could get their credit as soon as the same day.

What is not known yet

The announcement does not say when the tool will be in use or whether it will reach customers outside Canada. The 20% to 30% and 40% figures are hopes, not results. BMO says people stay in charge of key decisions, a design it calls human-in-the-loop.