Wells Fargo Says Convenience and Personalization Drive Adoption of Virtual Assistant

Wells Fargo said Thursday (March 26) that less than three years after it launched its artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant Fargo, the assistant has helped customers with more than 1 billion transactions.

The bank also said in a Thursday press release that its Wells Fargo Mobile app, which was introduced in 2023, surpassed 33 million active users in February.

Wells Fargo attributed customers’ embrace of these digital tools to the ability to complete financial tasks quickly, securely and with greater personalization.

Fargo allows customers to accomplish more through natural, conversational interactions, the bank said. The mobile app helps customers with tasks such as sending money with Zelle, paying bills, locating routing numbers, and gaining insights into spending and account balances, the bank added.

“Reaching 1 billion Fargo interactions is a meaningful milestone because it represents how customers are choosing to engage with us every day,” Michelle Moore, head of digital data and artificial intelligence at Wells Fargo, said in the release. “It reflects our disciplined approach to responsibly scaling AI and delivering experiences that make banking easier, smarter and more personal.”

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Why Digital-First Banking Does Not Mean Digital-Only” found that the convenience of online transactions has driven the soaring popularity of digital banking.

The January 2024 report found that 81% of customers had used mobile devices to manage their bank accounts at least once in the previous month. It also found that 60% of millennials, 57% of Generation Z and 52% of Generation X primarily used mobile banking apps.

Another PYMNTS Intelligence report, “Is AI the Master Key to Banking’s Next Era?,” found that 72% of retail banking consumers prefer intelligent virtual assistants to traditional chatbots because of the personalized experiences those tools can deliver.

During a January earnings call, Wells Fargo Chairman and CEO Charlie Scharf said the bank had stronger growth in net checking account in 2025 than it had in 2024 and attributed this growth in part to digital account openings facilitated by its mobile app.

“We continue to make enhancements to our mobile app, including making it significantly easier to open accounts, and in 2025, 50% of our consumer checking accounts were opened digitally,” Scharf said. “We also grew mobile active customers by 1.4 million in 2025, up 4% from a year ago.”