Asia’s leading financial services group DBS has upgraded its AI-powered virtual assistants with generative AI (Gen AI) and agentic AI capabilities to support everyday banking tasks across its retail, wealth and corporate banking.
The enhancements apply to DBS Joy, the bank's virtual assistant for corporate and SME customers, and DBS digibot, which serves retail banking customers.
DBS said, together, the two assistants now support more than 10 million users across Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, expecting to handle over one million customer chats each month.
This marks a shift from AI being used primarily as an information assistant to becoming a digital banking assistant capable of carrying out customer-requested tasks through a single conversation.
Derrick Goh, DBS Group Chief Operating Officer, said, "The true value of AI lies in delivering meaningful outcomes for customers at scale…Building on more than a decade of AI innovation, we are taking the next leap forward - moving from helping customers find information to helping them get things done."
For corporate and SME customers in Singapore, DBS Joy has already been upgraded with agentic AI capabilities. Instead of directing users to navigate different sections of the bank's digital banking platform, the assistant can now retrieve relevant information and complete selected banking requests within the same conversation.
According to DBS, customers can ask natural language questions about recent payments, transaction history or banking fees, with the assistant analysing account and transaction data to provide the requested information directly. The capabilities will soon be extended to corporate customers in Hong Kong from September before other DBS markets.
The company said the enhancement addresses some of the most common requests received by the assistant, including payment tracking, transaction enquiries and guidance on using the bank's corporate banking platform.
The bank is also expanding DBS Joy's knowledge of SME banking products and programmes, allowing businesses to seek information on banking solutions alongside servicing requests. New live chat functionality will enable customers to connect with customer service officers when required, while transitions from chat to phone support are planned for the fourth quarter of 2026.
DBS digibot expands into wealth management
On the retail banking side, DBS has enhanced DBS digibot allowing it to respond more naturally to customer enquiries relating to cards, remittances, refunds and fee waivers.
Beginning in August, the assistant will also be integrated into DBS' digiWealth platform to help customers navigate wealth-related enquiries and connect with their wealth planning managers when needed.
Later this year, DBS plans to further upgrade digibot with agentic AI and voice AI capabilities. These enhancements will enable customers to complete selected servicing requests, such as checking card usage, tracking reward points, requesting fee waivers, blocking or replacing cards, and supporting selected wealth servicing tasks, without leaving the conversation.
The AI assistants will execute only customer-initiated instructions, while customers requiring assistance with more complex issues will continue to have access to human customer service officers.
The rollout represents DBS positioning conversational AI as a means of simplifying customer interactions while reducing the effort required to complete routine banking tasks.
