Hartford Business Journal

10 Hartford Business Journal • July 16, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Digital Transformation Glastonbury fintech Payrailz readies fall launch of AI-driven personal banking technology By Matthew Broderick Special to the Hartford Business Journal F or most people, managing the payment of month- ly bills is as enjoyable as a line at the DMV and, at times, as time-consuming. But a new Glastonbury-based financial technol- ogy (fintech) company, Payrailz, is looking to change that through artificial intelligence-powered technologies that take the time and guesswork out of personal finance. The company, part of the state's growing fintech sector, launched pub- licly last November and has attracted clients — and interest — from a na- tional banking industry that is heavily investing in digital tools. "The ability to pay your bills [online] through your bank has been around for a while," said Payrailz CEO Fran Dug- gan, "but there has been [little] innova- tion in the [digital finance] space." That is rapidly changing as banks and credit unions adapt to a consumer culture de- manding digital tools and convenience. In fact, according to a 2017 CB Insights report, the top 10 largest U.S. banks have invested more than $4.1 billion in fintech startups since 2012. For Duggan, fintech is not simply about creating a convenient online experience, it's about providing a real value-add for end-users. "We want to use technology to help people pay their bills [through their bank] so they don't have to worry about it," he said. "We are bringing artificial intelli- gence into the payment process and rede- fining what 'doing payments' is about." With Payrailz's platform, which will go live to customers through banks and credit union clients starting this fall, end-users will receive push notifications to a smartphone about upcoming bills and, with a text response, can authorize the bank to pay those bills, Duggan said. "There's no more signing into your mobile banking account or getting bill pay alerts," he said. "Our platform al- lows [a bank] to do that for you." By the end of the year Duggan expects, based on current client numbers, nearly 250,000 banking customers will be paying more than 1 million bills a month through Payrailz. To date, the company has inked deals with two of the top 10 credit unions in the state and three of the top 20 banks, and recently announced its moving its headquarters — doubling the company's original footprint — in Glastonbury to accommodate growth. And it's not just payment innovation that Payrailz is bringing to the market. Last month, the company announced FOCUS: Banking & Finance AI-driven technology changing banking landscape Q&A talks with Joseph Gianni, Bank of America's presi- dent for the Greater Hartford market, about artificial intelligence and other technology reshaping the financial services industry. Q. Digital banking tools have been all the rage in recent years. Bank of America just unveiled its first widely available AI-driven virtual assistant, called Erica. What does it do and how did the concept for it come about? A. Our customers are increasingly asking for mobile services that make their lives easier, and Erica is another demonstration of how we're respond- ing to them. Erica combines the latest technology in artificial intelligence, predictive analytics and natural lan- guage to be a virtual financial assis- tant for our customers. As one of the industry's first AI-driv- en intelligent assistants, Erica will help customers accomplish simple-to-com- plex tasks within the mobile banking app by texting, talking or tapping. Since introducing Erica to customers earlier this year, they have primarily used it to search for transactions, view balance information and bills, and get their credit scores and account numbers. Erica will help customers tackle even more com- plex tasks in the coming months, such as displaying key spending information and showing upcoming subscription charges. We recently surpassed more than 1 million Erica users. Q. It seems as if companies across myriad industries now consider them- selves technology companies. Does Bank of America view itself as much of a technology company as it does a fi- nancial services provider? What other digital technology tools do you offer? A. Beyond Erica, some of our recent investments in digital capabilities include the Digital Mortgage Experi- ence, giving homebuyers the ability to apply for a mortgage through the mobile banking app or online and im- mediately have many aspects of their mortgage application auto-populated, significantly reducing time and effort. We also offer a mobile car shopping tool, enabling shoppers to search mil- lions of cars from auto dealers nation- wide, estimate their monthly payment and apply for a loan prior to their dealer visit, all in one place. It's all about customers' evolving priorities and offering new products and services like Zelle — an automatic payment service — to make our lives easier. Recently, I was watching a World Cup match in downtown Hartford with a friend, kind of a last minute thing, and when it was time to pay, I didn't have cash but I did have my phone so I trans- ferred through Zelle my share of the bill. It was easy and it saved me time and I thought how cool is this! Q. Financial service technology com- panies and online banks have been encroaching on the turf of traditional lenders like Bank of America. Does B of A consider fintechs friend or foe? A. We view fintech as the use of tech- nology to accelerate change in financial services. Customers in a digital era Joseph Gianni President, Bank of America, Greater Hartford market < A snapshot of Payrailz's digital tools. IMAGE | CONTRIBUTED

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