Fewer than half of consumers are fully satisfied with what banks, insurance providers, and wealth management advisors deliver. That’s why standout customer service and digital experiences — including those powered by AI agents — are key to earning and keeping their business. That’s a key finding from Salesforce’s new Connected Financial Services Report, based on a global survey of 9,500 financial service institution (FSI) consumers.
Why it matters: Consumers consistently report that competitive rates, fees, and pricing keep them loyal to their FSI. With declining interest rates making introductory incentives less feasible for FSIs, differentiated customer service and digital experiences are getting renewed attention. The advent of AI agents presents an opportunity for FSIs to boost their digital experiences to exceed customers’ high expectations for speed and personalization.
In addition to the most competitive pricing, rates, and fees, FSIs can win customers by providing standout service and tools. In fact, 46% of consumers — including 55% of high earners (defined in the United States as households making over $100,000 per year) would remain with an FSI that provides an excellent customer experience even if it raised its rates or fees.
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What constitutes an excellent experience is digital and self-service in nature, with most consumers opting to complete tasks without the help of representatives over the phone or in a branch.
Salesforce customers like Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed) meet these customer expectations through self-service tools that provide quick customer resolutions whenever, wherever.
Only 41% of wealth management clients are fully satisfied with their institutions’ customer service speed and effectiveness — figures which drop even further among banking and insurance customers. AI agents — which understand and respond to customer inquiries without human intervention — offer a unique opportunity for FSIs to differentiate their digital experiences against the competition while increasing efficiency and lowering costs.
Half of consumers expect AI to impact their relationships with FSIs more than other industries — a sentiment that’s higher among millennials and Gen Z — and only 8% think FSIs will be AI laggards. Customers are especially bullish about the potential of AI to speed up financial transactions — 65% now expect this, up from 46% in 2023.
But as agents increasingly come online, consumers will need more education and demonstrations of their sophisticated capabilities, which include acting as financial coaches, increasing financial literacy, and showing consumers how to save or even earn money.
“Agentic AI solutions like Agentforce will scale a limitless expert digital labor force for financial institutions,” noted Eran Agrios, SVP & GM of Financial Services at Salesforce. “Imagine FSIs that provide a personal digital banker, advisor, or agent to every one of their customers 24/7 to answer questions like ‘Am I saving enough for retirement?’ or ‘Can I afford this trip?’ without waiting. That’s the scale that’s possible.”
As FSIs race to take advantage of AI and agents, choosing the right partners and technology is key to ensuring consumer trust. While 54% of consumers say they trust the use of AI agents, only 10% say they completely trust them.
This is likely in part because people are naturally cautious about new technology, but they also don’t trust how financial companies handle their data, according to the survey. Many consumers report being worried about how their personal information is used and protected, and they are becoming more cautious about keeping it safe.
A related study of global consumers revealed the critical importance of transparency as companies across industries implement agents. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of consumers say it’s important to know whether or not they’re communicating with an agent in the first place.
“For humans and agents to work together, it’s critical for financial service institutions to implement with trust, transparency, and the highest levels of regulatory compliance as core to their strategy — not an afterthought,” said Agrios. “Institutions must ask themselves not only if their strategies are worthy of customers’ trust, but if the solutions they invest in are, too.”
What this means for ERP insiders
Get tips from FSIs already down the path with Agentforce. A prominent financial services company specializing in banking and insurance faced challenges with complex loan application procedures, limited access to credit information, and inefficient data collection. By implementing Agentforce, they developed a customized Loan Assistance Agent that simplified the loan application process for customers, automated the collection of essential customer information, and enhanced the review mechanism for submitted applications. This integration led to improved customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. Similarly, a regional bank with over a million clients aimed to reduce customer attrition, particularly among younger account holders. Utilizing Agentforce, the bank empowered its sales representatives to identify at-risk clients through automated data analysis, engage proactively with personalized offers and communications, and automate routine tasks, allowing staff to focus on high-value activities. This approach resulted in improved client retention and more efficient operations.
FSIs should lay out clear Agentforce, ERP integration and performance optimization plans. Application integration gurus will tell you to pursue an API-first strategy, by leveraging Salesforce APIs (REST, SOAP, Bulk APIs) to connect Agentforce with ERP systems like SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, and Workday. Also, use Mulesoft (Salesforce-owned), Boomi, Informatica, or other iPaaS solutions to manage data exchange efficiently. And build an event-driven architecture by implementing Kafka, AWS EventBridge, or Azure Event Grid for real-time data synchronization. Also it’s a good idea to unify customer data across Agentforce and ERP systems for holistic insights into financial history (e.g., loans, accounts, investments), personalized interactions based on behavioral data, and seamless handoffs between departments (e.g., sales, underwriting, customer service). Most high-performing customer- and data-driven companies will also implement Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) like Salesforce Data Cloud for advanced segmentation and analytics. Security and compliance are paramount in the financial services industry so FSIs should implement OAuth 2.0 authentication and SAML-based single sign-on (SSO) between Agentforce and ERP systems, using role-based access controls (RBAC) to restrict sensitive data access, encrypting data in transit (TLS 1.2/1.3) and at rest (AES-256), and ensuring audit logs and compliance reporting for financial regulations.
Next two years will define the future of AI-powered finance. AI-powered virtual financial advisors and wealth managers will outperform human advisors in speed, efficiency, and personalization. Traditional banks and wealth management firms will lose market share to AI-first fintech companies. Firms leveraging AI-driven hyper-personalization (e.g., AI-generated investment portfolios, autonomous trading) will attract more digital-native customers. For example JP Morgan, BlackRock, and Goldman Sachs are already exploring AI-driven wealth management solutions, while fintech disruptors like Wealthfront, Betterment, and Robinhood are integrating agentic AI to offer real-time, adaptive financial planning. Agentic AI will detect fraud and risks in real-time, predicting fraudulent transactions before they happen. AI-native financial institutions will outperform legacy banks in security, cutting fraud rates by up to 40-50%. Regulatory-compliant AI models will reduce compliance costs and accelerate regulatory approvals. For example, Mastercard’s Decision Intelligence AI detects fraud with near zero false positives. And AI-first credit risk assessments will disrupt FICO and credit scoring systems, benefiting challenger banks and fintech lenders. Agentic AI will automate high-frequency trading (HFT) and dynamic asset allocation with real-time decision-making. Hedge funds, trading firms, and investment banks will rely less on human traders and more on self-learning AI-driven trading algorithms. AI-driven market makers will increase liquidity while reducing spreads, making markets more efficient. For instance, Citadel Securities and Renaissance Technologies are doubling down on AI-driven trading, while startups like Kavout and Aiera are using AI to analyze real-time market sentiment and execute autonomous trades. AI chatbots and voice assistants will replace Tier 1 and Tier 2 customer service reps, reducing customer service costs by 30-50%. AI-powered neobanks (e.g., Chime, Revolut, Monzo) will dominate customer experience with instant AI-driven resolutions. Traditional banks will either adapt or lose customers to digital-first, AI-native competitors. For example, Bank of America’s Erica AI has handled over 1.5 billion interactions, reducing wait times and costs. And HSBC and Citi are testing agentic AI for real-time mortgage approvals and loan servicing.
