Four ways AI is making Citi's Services unit more efficient | American Banker

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Four ways AI is making Citi's Services unit more efficient | American Banker

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Citi's Services unit deployed a suite of generative AI tools across four core operational areas, including Sales Assist for client engagement, Ops Assist for document processing, RFP response automation, and Client Assist chatbot on Citi Direct banking portal, according to coverage in American Banker. The deployment addresses multiple operational pain points across the Services unit, which serves treasury, securities, and other institutional client needs. Sales Assist helps sales teams interact with clients by analyzing client requests and providing background information during active deals. Client Assist lets customers talk to their data, asking for payment status or account balance on the Citi Direct banking portal. Ops Assist helps with document processing and operational workflows, automating much of the work of onboarding a new client. It scans documents, extracts needed elements, and feeds that data into the bank's other software programs. Khaliq at Citi said: "Previously, when a client would deliver us a deck of documents — signature cards, account opening forms — it took a few hours. That time has been reduced by something like 80%, to 10 to 15 minutes." The shift to AI-driven operations addresses the volume and complexity of institutional client onboarding. The traditional process of manual document review, signature card processing, and account opening forms required significant human effort and introduced errors at scale. RFP response automation further accelerates the bid process by analyzing client information and suggesting responses to proposals. Architecture spans a layered virtual assistant framework with Sales Assist for client-facing teams, Ops Assist for back-office document workflows, Client Assist on the Citi Direct banking portal for self-service customer queries, and the RFP response tool that analyzes client information and requests for proposals to suggest responses. Operational scale covers the institutional Services unit with measurable impact: document processing time reduced by approximately 80%, from a few hours down to 10-15 minutes per client onboarding case. The Client Assist chatbot is currently in pilot with select customers on Citi Direct. Looking ahead, Citi plans to expand the Client Assist chatbot beyond the pilot group, deepen RFP response automation, and continue rolling out generative AI tools across additional operational areas of the Services unit to drive further efficiency and scale.