DBS has made its generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI)-powered virtual assistant, DBS Joy, available to all its corporate banking clients, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The system is accessible through the bank's digital banking platform, IDEAL, and is designed to provide round-the-clock support for a range of corporate banking queries.
Virtual support
DBS Joy was developed in-house and incorporates large language models connected to the bank's proprietary knowledge base. The chatbot aims to deliver more detailed and tailored responses than previous versions, going beyond straightforward queries to offer contextual and conversational support. For more complex needs, clients are routed to human customer service specialists who are supported by their own AI-powered digital co-pilots for improved response times and accuracy.
Adoption and usage
Since the initial trials began, DBS Joy has handled over 120,000 distinct conversations. Currently, approximately 4,000 corporate clients make use of the service each month, with the majority being SMEs. The bank anticipates increased usage as corporate clients become more familiar with the virtual assistant's enhanced features.
Customer satisfaction has also seen a notable improvement, with scores rising by more than 23% since the introduction of new Gen AI capabilities. Faster response times and shorter wait periods have been identified as key contributors to higher client contentment with the service.
Human oversight
The system's learning and response generation is continuously refined through customer feedback and internal quality checks. Each interaction is subject to multiple layers of safeguards to reduce the risk of errors. Additionally, the bank has appointed a team of customer service agents known as DBS Joy evaluators to assess the quality of the chatbot's responses and to recommend updates or corrections where necessary.
"As an evaluator, I play a critical role in building a trustworthy and efficient virtual agent for our customers. My assessment of user chats acts as a vital quality assurance step to enable accurate and reliable responses through the tool. In addition, proactive callbacks to clarify any inaccuracies are essential for refining the system's knowledge base. My work empowers customers with instant, correct answers about bank products and services 24/7, boosting satisfaction and their ability to manage their financial needs confidently," said Kelvin Ong, BusinessCare DBS Joy evaluator
Employee tools
The Gen AI capabilities are not limited to client-facing services. Customer service specialists within DBS also receive support from AI tools that help with data retrieval, provide recommendations, and further speed up responses.
Welson Jamin, Group Head of Operations at DBS, said: "DBS Joy enables customers to access information quickly, efficiently, and accurately. For customers who choose to speak with a human service specialist, we are also implementing Gen AI to support employees by enabling faster data retrieval, providing concise recommendations and improving response times to customer queries. This reduces employees' effort and allows them to focus on work that involves human judgement to address client needs."
Future expansion
DBS plans to broaden the range of services available through DBS Joy as customer expectations evolve. The bank is also preparing to extend the virtual assistant to other key markets including Hong Kong and India. This is part of an ongoing initiative to integrate machine intelligence and human expertise throughout its customer service operations.
Chen Ze Ling, Group Head of Corporate and SME Banking at DBS, said: "At DBS, our dedication to empowering SMEs fuels our continuous innovation in how we deliver positive customer experiences. In line with our commitment to be an AI-enabled bank with a heart, our latest iteration of DBS Joy represents a major leap forward as it offers instant and intelligent support to customers, while enabling our SME relationship managers to deliver more focused and value-added engagements to clients."
