Bank of America and TD connect with clients via Facebook Messenger

Bank of America has partnered with Facebook Messenger to enable it to engage with clients via non-traditional channels. Early features that it plans to deliver via the messaging platform included real-time alerts with additional functions scheduled for release later in the year. Bank of America is among the first companies to partner with Facebook’s newest AI-powered initiative. David Marcus, head of Facebook’s Messenger and a former chief executive of PayPal, said that 80% of time spent on smartphones is spent in apps, and five apps dominate that time, led by Facebook. Brian Blau, a technology analyst with Gartner, said 99.9% of businesses are nowhere near as technologically advanced as Facebook is pushing them to be, and hence as they struggle to keep up with social media they are becoming more on the platforms themselves. TD Bank also announced that it will use Facebook Messenger to service its customers, however it use humans to answer questions.

Bank of America customers could soon interact with the bank via Facebook's Messenger app, the banking company said Tuesday.

B of A said it is working with Facebook to help bank customers “stay connected to their finances whenever and wherever they choose.”

The bank was one of nearly two dozen companies — including eBay, Burger King and CNN — to say they plan to use the Messenger platform to interact with customers through chat bots, artificial intelligence software that can understand questions and provide answers.

Facebook announced the chat-bot initiative on Tuesday at its Facebook F8 developer conference in San Francisco.

B of A said initial capabilities would enable customers to receive important real-time alerts from the bank, and that it will continue to look for other ways to use the platform. New features are expected to launch later this year.

“Bank of America sees tremendous potential in connecting our financial services expertise with Messenger to deliver enhanced access, convenience and value for our clients,” Michelle Moore, B of A's head of digital banking, said in a press release. “Messenger is a perfect complement to our connected banking proposition through 2016 and beyond.”

While B of A was the only bank mentioned as part of the bot initiative on Tuesday, Toronto-based TD Bank Group announced it would begin servicing customers via Messenger, similarly citing the desire to interact with its customers through the method of their choosing.

TD’s use of Messenger, however, is not automated. Every day between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. Eastern time, TD customers can chat with live agents through Facebook Messenger.

