Starling Bank has announced the launch of an agentic AI financial assistant which can give customers banking guidance, financial insights and help to manage daily finances.

The in-app agent, called Starling Assistant, provides a conversational banking interface which responds to voice and natural language prompts.

Starling said the assistant can carry out a variety of tasks on the customer’s behalf, such as setting up savings goals and organising bill payments.

Starling Assistant is currently being rolled out to personal current account customers, with business and joint accounts set to follow.

The tool is built with Google Gemini running on the Google Cloud platform and follows eight years of AI development at the bank.

It builds on two generative AI tools launched last year. Scam Intelligence, introduced last October, allows customers to upload images of items and ads from online marketplaces which are then analysed for signs of fraud.

Spending Intelligence, launched in September last year, uses AI to help customers better understand and manage their spending habits, aligning with Starling’s stated mission to support financial wellbeing across the UK.

Starling said these tools can be accessed via Starling Assistant, alongside the bank’s new agentic capabilities, to provide a single interface for proactive money management.

In line with the bank’s stated approach to privacy, customers will have to opt in to use the AI assistant and are under no obligation to do so. Starling added that all data remains within its Google Cloud environment and is not used for training purposes.

The bank said there are multiple ways that customers can engage with the tool. To learn more about their money, users can ask the assistant to generate a quiz about their spending patterns containing questions about how much they have spent and in which categories.

Customers with vulnerability or accessibility needs can ask Starling Assistant for specialist support, such as requesting a sign language service or asking for guidance on how to create gambling blocks.

“Generative AI has transformative potential for financial services and Starling is showing what’s possible, whether it’s protecting people from scams or helping them better understand their spending,” said Raman Bhatia, Starling’s group chief executive. “Agentic AI is the next step in banking.”

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