- New AI Agent Assist helps BMO employees provide faster answers to client credit card requests, targeting a reduction in call times of up to 30 per cent.
TORONTO, Nov. 6, 2026 /CNW/ -- BMO is introducing AI Agent Assist to help clients get faster answers and resolutions when they contact BMO's Virtual Connect contact centre about their credit card transactions. Designed for internal use by employees, this new agentic AI capability brings relevant transaction information and guidance directly to team members, reducing time spent navigating systems and helping deliver a simpler, more consistent experience for BMO clients.
Each year, BMO's Virtual Connect contact centre receives more than 500,000 calls from Canadian clients about credit card transactions, with each call currently taking an average of 12-14 minutes to resolve. With AI Agent Assist, BMO aims to reduce the time spent to resolve eligible client inquiries by 20-30 per cent for eligible calls and to process about 40 per cent of eligible credit refund requests automatically. As a result, in the case of qualifying inquiries clients could receive their credit as soon as the same day.
AI Agent Assist brings AI-enabled transaction matching, policy retrieval and case preparation directly to employees for review. By bringing together the information and guidance employees need in the moment, the technology helps employees respond with relevant information more quickly, reducing the need to place clients on hold while navigating systems and supports a more consistent client service experience.
"We're focused on applying AI where it can deliver meaningful, measurable outcomes for our clients and our business," said Greg Brown, Head of Enterprise AI Transformation and Chief Digital Officer, Personal and Business Banking Canada, BMO. "We're bringing agentic AI to a high-volume client experience to make it faster and simpler, while building reusable capabilities that support the next generation of AI solutions across BMO. This is how we broaden from individual use cases to AI at scale with clear guardrails and our people accountable for every decision.
"As AI agents play a growing role in financial services, we're focused on helping clients safely benefit from the technology with the right protections and oversight in place – backstopped by the trust they have in their bank."
AI Agent Assist is used by BMO's client service team who are accountable for reviewing AI-generated information and making servicing decisions. BMO designed AI Agent Assist with a 'human-in-the-loop' principle to support and equip its expert client service team while keeping people at the centre of important decisions. The technology brings together relevant information throughout the client servicing process, reducing the need to search across systems and complete manual tasks. Employees remain accountable for reviewing AI-generated information and making appropriate servicing decisions.
"When clients call us about a credit card transaction, they want clarity and a quick resolution," said Holly Jackson, Head, Virtual Connect, BMO. "AI Agent Assist gives our employees the information and guidance they need, so they can spend less time moving between systems and more time helping the client. For qualifying requests, that could mean receiving a credit as soon as the same day."
Building AI to scale
BMO is designing the capabilities behind AI Agent Assist for reuse across the bank, enabling BMO to deploy proven and trusted agentic AI capabilities across other client experiences and business processes.
As Canadians increasingly turn to AI to help manage their money and make financial decisions, BMO is building a future where trusted agentic solutions are part of everyday banking experiences. That includes building our own capabilities and creating the conditions to safely enable broader AI experiences that benefit clients, with security, privacy and human oversight at the core.
The work supports BMO's broader enterprise AI ambition, its focus on translating AI investments into measurable value for clients and the business, and its goal of generating more than $1 billion in AI-enabled revenue growth, productivity improvements and operating efficiencies by 2030.
BMO's AI progress is also reflected in the 2026 Evident AI Index, which evaluated BMO with the highest available scores in several Responsible AI areas and ranked the bank #2 among 50 banks for reported AI use-case outcomes. BMO also ranked among the world's top 20 banks overall in the Index.
Learn more about BMO's recognition and enterprise AI strategy.
Learn more about BMO's AI and digital-first strategy.
About BMO Financial Group
BMO Financial Group is the eighth largest bank in North America by assets, with total assets of $1.5 trillion as of July 31, 2026. Serving clients for more than 200 years, BMO provides a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management, global markets and investment banking products and services across Canada, the United States, and select markets globally. BMO is innovating for business value, by deploying and integrating human, digital and artificial intelligence to personalize client experiences, augment teams, and automate its business responsibly. Driven by its purpose, to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life, BMO is committed to driving positive change in the world, and making progress for a thriving economy, sustainable future, and stronger communities.
SOURCE BMO Financial Group
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