Banking giant Bank of America (BAC) has a particular advantage in the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot market, and its name is Erica. Erica is delivering big results so far, and Bank of America is considering how to push Erica even farther. Investors were not exactly pleased, though, and sent shares slipping fractionally in Monday afternoon’s trading.
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Erica is a winner by most standard metrics. As of last week, Erica officially cleared the three billion mark in overall customer interactions. Around 50 million people have put the tool to use, suggesting that each one of those users turned to Erica for about 60 interactions each, on average. Peter Wannemacher, Forrester (FORR) analyst, noted that one of the biggest reasons for Erica’s success was the ability to offer accurate information, and do it so consistently that it became trustworthy.
In fact, it got to such a point that Bank of America’s mobile app became particularly prized as a result. Forrester studies found that the bank’s app actually “…meets or exceeds customers’ expectations in 23 out of 25 categories.” That makes it a particular draw, and might well make a difference in some customers’ banking app preferences.
Roster Shakeup
Bank of America did not just rest on its laurels with a successful mobile banking app. It also recently juggled some of its staffing in the global corporate and investment banking unit. Mike Joo and Faiz Ahmad were recently named “co-heads of global investment banking.”
The duo will be leading Bank of America’s push into market expansions, as well as overall strategy in investment banking. Ahmad will be focusing on international growth as well as specialization in key industries, while Joo will focus on the United States’ operations. With 97 local markets currently in play at Bank of America, this will likely be a challenge. Meanwhile, the current co-heads of the global operation—Thomas Sheehan and Alex Bettamio—will be moving to chair the corporate and investment banking operation.
Is Bank of America a Buy, Sell or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on BAC stock based on 15 Buys and two Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 23.95% rally in its share price over the past year, the average BAC price target of $53.35 per share implies 7.89% upside potential.
