Financial firms rush to adopt AI-mediated services for efficiency, accuracy

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A growing number of insurers and other financial service providers are adopting artificial intelligence (AI) to meet customer demands, from investment recommendations and overall consulting to insurance design and complaint processing, market watchers said Monday.

The shift improves efficiency, accuracy and speed, since AI agents are taking over repetitive, time-consuming or information-heavy tasks previously performed by human employees.

The insurance sector in particular is experiencing enhanced, faster services, as the AI-reviewed complex insurance consultations reduce mistakes.

KB Insurance has launched an AI complaint resolution assistant whereby recorded customer calls are analyzed to classify complaint types before being referred to relevant procedures and department staff.

The self-learning AI continuously improves its accuracy, reflecting consumer and employee feedback entered during complaint handling and processing, thereby enhancing response quality, the insurer said.

“The AI-powered consumer service helps speed up the consumer complaint management system, including legal reviews in real time,” it said.

Similarly, KB Kookmin Bank has introduced an AI-based property investment feature on KB Real Estate, its online property trading platform.

The service analyzes data on selected properties, including location and nearby transportation options, as well as other factors tied to their valuations.

It also offers a function that summarizes key information about each property, allowing users to easily compare properties up for sale.

“Users can make investment choices easily with the new features that fully reflect their preference backed by data-driven searches,” a KB official said.

Early this month, Shinhan Bank started a pilot operation for MOLI, its AI-powered agent which carries out tasks at the Sookmyung Women’s University branch in Seoul.

The agent can perform more than 60 banking services previously handled by human workers, including account openings, balance inquiries and remittances.

It can issue bankbooks and check cards and help setting new security passcodes. Also available is issuance of physical documents such as transaction certificates.

“The AI MOLI-mediated bank services are a unique innovation model that allows customers to experience AI services at a branch,” a Shinhan official said. “We plan to expand AI-based financial services that are more simple, accessible and customer-friendly.”

Many commercial lenders are already utilizing AI to enhance risk management and fraud prevention.

For example, they have implemented fraud detection systems to identify unusual transactions and block voice phishing attempts.

In August, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance introduced an AI-powered system to digitally assess insurance claims such as cancer diagnosis reviews and surgery benefit payouts.

The system analyzes large-scale medical data, aided by optical character recognition (OCR) as well as generative AI, to review diagnosis documents, test results and other medical records.

Similarly, AIA Life introduced an AI-enabled large language model OCR technology as an upgrade to its current claims and payout processing system.