Mind the Tech NY
When technology meets banking
"Behind the scenes, there is a world of back-office operations that customers aren't exposed to. These are the technological tools we use to assist our bankers, most of these tools are advanced AI solutions," said Eyal Ben-Haim, Head of the Retail Division at Bank Leumi, speaking at Mind the Tech New York. .
Given the impressive résumés of everyone here in the audience, you could think that I would be talking about AI, ML, and other buzzwords – Yes…but, I will get to those later.
First, I would like to tell you about my mother, Nehama. She is 80 years old, she’s been through one or two things in her life. She is independent, active, and loves to learn new things. She even knows how to use a few apps— one of them, of course, is her Bank Leumi App.
She knows how to use the app and makes sure to call often, me to brag about it.
In my mother’s generation, going to the bank was part of daily life — just like going to the grocery store or the post office. It was part of the culture.
So today, when my mother chats with her banker on WhatsApp, while sitting in her living room, for her - it feels like magic.
On the other hand, I want to tell you about my 20-year-old son, Guy, Nehama's grandson. He is one of my four children, all of whom were born with tablets in their hands.
During one of his breaks from military service this year, we went together to renew his Passport.
As a responsible and proud father, I scheduled an appointment in advance, through the Ministry website. We arrived there, entered within a few minutes, and walked out with a new Passport.
I was actually impressed and pleased and by the efficiency of the Israeli Ministry. But my son looked at me and said, “Dad, why did we even have to come here?”
And that’s when I realized — I'm a boomer.
So why am I sharing these family stories with you today? To illustrate a point that is not obvious: The future of customer service is not just about technology. It’s about the ability of technology to enable us — experienced professionals — to tailor services to the exact needs of our customers.
As bankers and service providers, the question we ask ourselves is not: "What features we can offer our customers through AI?". Instead, we ask: "Which tools can we provide to an 80-year-old customer, who isn’t tech-oriented… like my mother… and to a 20-year-old boy, who is already five years ahead in his tech mindset?
We, at Bank Leumi, believe that banking services should be as advanced as other services we are all familiar with — fast and efficient… in person or remotely.
Our vision is to allow our customers to plan their finances as easily as they plan a route on Waze or order food on Wolt. And our bankers should be available whenever it’s convenient for our customers — as long as they are awake and active.
The future of banking is in the intelligent integration of technology with human interaction. The key question is: How do we combine cutting-edge tech service with a personal touch… at the financial crossroads of our customers' lives? It could be a large business loan, a mortgage on a new home, or god forbid a financial crisis? I'm sure no one in this room raises venture capital with AI.
Many of the products and services we offer today are based on cutting-edge technology. But we don’t always develop them alone. We take our 120-year-old banking expertise and often join forces with startups — like yours — to create innovative, yet simple digital tools for our customers. And customer satisfaction speaks for itself.
The Israelis here in the audience most likely know that over the past two years, at Leumi, we have led a service revolution in Israel — and not just within the banking and financial sector.
We felt it was vital to set a new standard of service for our customers, and we did it!
In the Bank of Israel's recent customer satisfaction survey, Bank Leumi was ranked # 1 in all the digital categories.
For example, we were the first to develop a feature enabling customers to chat with their branch manager over WhatsApp when it was convenient.
We also cooperated with Bridgewise to develop a new innovative AI-powered trading app, which includes a virtual advisor.
Behind the scenes, there is a world of back-office operations that customers aren't exposed to. These are the technological tools we use to assist our bankers, most of these tools are advanced AI solutions.
To conclude…my message to you today — entrepreneurs and investors — is this: When developing a new tech product or service, always put the customer first. Remember that just as it could be my son, it could also be my mother. And they are both equally important.
Eyal Ben-Haim is the Head of the Retail Division at Bank Leumi.
