DBS Empowers AI Assistants with Agentic Capabilities for Enhanced Banking Experience

Singapore’s DBS Group has upgraded its artificial intelligence (AI) powered virtual assistants, enabling them to support everyday banking tasks across retail, wealth, and corporate banking. The enhancements apply to two separate assistants: DBS Joy, which serves corporate and small-to-medium enterprise customers, and DBS digibot, catering to retail banking clients.

The upgrades bring the total number of users supported by these AI assistants to over 10 million in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Each month, they are expected to handle more than one million customer chats. This marks a significant 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.

DBS Group Chief Operating Officer Derrick Goh emphasized the true value of AI lies in delivering meaningful outcomes for customers at scale. He stated, ‘The next leap forward is moving from helping customers find information to helping them get things done.’ This vision has driven DBS’ more than decade-long commitment to AI innovation.

For corporate and SME clients 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 a single conversation.

DBS customers can ask natural language questions about recent payments, transaction history, or banking fees, with the assistant analyzing account and transaction data to provide requested information directly. The capabilities will soon be extended to corporate clients in Hong Kong from September before expanding to other DBS markets.

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. Additionally, DBS Joy is being expanded with 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. This upgrade aims to streamline interactions between customers and bank representatives.

On the retail banking side, DBS has enhanced its digibot assistant to respond more naturally to customer enquiries relating to cards, remittances, refunds, and fee waivers. Beginning in August, it 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 without leaving the conversation. The rollout represents DBS positioning conversational AI as a means of simplifying customer interactions while reducing the effort required to complete routine banking tasks.

The AI assistants will execute only customer-initiated instructions, ensuring that customers requiring assistance with more complex issues can continue to access human customer service officers.