AI agent serves as first contact for BNP Paribas’ 1 million+ Securities Services clients and employees

At a Glance:

• Mission: Add cognitive and automation capability to client-facing operations across a global custody business
• Solution: NOA, the "NextGen Online Assistant," powered by SoundHound's AI platform across two client-facing portals
• Results:
  
  • First point of contact for more than 1 million customers and employees
  • Dozens of tasks automated across NeoLink and PlanetShares
  • 85%-plus intent recognition rate in the first pilot, on 27 industry-specific skills
• What’s Next: Extend NOA to more countries as the progressive rollout continues

The mission: give global custody clients instant access to their own data

In post-trade services, a question is rarely just a question. A client checking a settlement status, a cash position, or a market notice usually works against a deadline that moves money. Custody runs on precision and timing, so the answer matters as much as the moment it arrives.

BNP Paribas's Securities Services business is a leading global custodian, providing multi-asset post-trade and asset servicing solutions to buy-side and sell-side market participants, corporates, and issuers.

Securities Services set out to add cognitive and automation functionality to its client-facing operations and hold its edge in a competitive financial sector. The goals were specific: sharpen customer service, improve customer MTTR, and stay ahead of emerging technology rather than react to it.

The solution: AI across two client-facing portals

Securities Services deployed AI from SoundHound at the start of its digital transformation journey and built NOA, the "NextGen Online Assistant," on top of it. NOA automates tasks inside the firm's two client-facing websites.

NOA went live first in PlanetShares, the portal for managing employee compensation and benefits plans. The initial pilot gave clients secure, personalized access to information about their fully registered shares. Trained on 27 industry-specific skills in English and French.

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27 | industry-specific skills, in two languages, at pilot.
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Securities Services launched NOA on NeoLink, which provides access to subscribed services for all client segments. There, NOA answers questions about custody activity, including settlement, cash, and market information.

Trained specifically for the Securities Services environment, NOA helps clients find the right information quickly. A set of APIs connects it to Securities Services' back-end systems for reliability and scale. Today, NOA supports:

• Custody activity questions 
• Settlement information 
• Cash information 
• Market information 
• Secure access to fully registered share details 
• Employee compensation and benefits plan support 
• Conversations in English and French

The result: a personalized front door for more than a million people

NOA now acts as the first point of contact for more than 1 million customers and employees, automating dozens of tasks across NeoLink and PlanetShares.

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1 million+| customers and employees served by NOA as the first point of contact.
Dozens | of tasks automated across two client-facing websites.
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Every one of those interactions is a question a client resolves alone, at the hour they need it, without waiting on a queue or a callback. Scale on that order also proves a broader point: conversational AI stretches across numerous lines of business inside a financial institution, from institutional custody clients to the employees who support them.

"NOA offers clients a new, personalized experience, enabling them to access information and services, when and where they need them. By providing clients with instant access to their data around the clock, NOA helps them save time and focus on their core business."
‍
Philippe Ruault
Former Head of Data and Digital Transformation, Securities Services at BNP Paribas

What's next: a progressive rollout across more markets

NOA is available on NeoLink today for institutional clients based in the UK, the US, Jersey, Ireland, Colombia, and Brazil. Securities Services will deploy it in additional countries as the progressive rollout continues.

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