BoA Reports 30% Jump in Virtual Assistant Usage

Americans are getting to know Bank of America’s Erica.

BoA said in its second-quarter earnings report Monday (July 18) that customer usage of Erica — its virtual financial assistant — has risen since 2021, part of a larger trend of increased digital banking activity.

Forty-three million active digital users signed on this quarter, CEO Brian Monahan said on a call with investors, marking “a record 2.8 billion times with our Erica users up 30% year over year. And we captured over 123 million total client interactions in the second quarter alone.”

See also: Bank Of America: Almost 48M Checks Deposited Digitally In Q2

First introduced four years ago, Erica is approaching 1 billion interactions, Monahan said, while overall digital sales were up 20%.

He added that average deposits rose $123 billion, or 7%, while retail deposits from the bank’s consumer and wealth management deposits increased by $129 billion.

“I’d just like to point out the small business deposits of $177 billion grew 14% year over year,” Monahan said. “And that reflects continued reopening of small businesses across America and the consumer spending, supporting their growth.”

Last year at this time, Bank of America reported 40.5 million total digital users, up from 39 million in 2020. Nearly 80% of households used the bank’s digital platform, compared to 77% in the second quarter of 2020.

Learn more: Big Banks Face Big Fines Over Messaging Apps

Last week, PYMNTS reported that Bank of America and four more of the country’s largest investment banks were preparing to pay a combined $1 billion in fines for letting employees conduct business using unauthorized messaging apps.

JPMorgan had already paid $200 million, with Morgan Stanley reportedly preparing to do the same. Meanwhile, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America were apparently also in discussions to pay a similar fine to regulators.

Citigroup took a one-time reserve for the investigation, Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason said last week on an earnings call, calling the move “appropriate” and “aligned with what our peers have disclosed.”