Backbase, the provider of an AI-native banking operating system, has made its Conversational Banking product generally available.

The release lets AI agents turn plain-language requests from customers and staff into real banking actions, within limits set by each bank.

The product moves banking beyond simply giving people digital access. It lets agents complete tasks under defined rules. A customer can describe what they need in everyday words, such as cancelling and reissuing a lost card, checking the status of a payment, or advancing a service query.

The agent then draws on that customer’s context and the bank’s connected systems to carry out whatever it is authorised to do. If a matter needs further investigation or a human decision, it passes to a staff member along with the relevant details and a summary of what the agent has already done.

Backbase sees this as a way for banks to handle more service demand while deepening customer relationships. It cites McKinsey & Company research suggesting agentic AI could reduce bank operating costs by 15% to 20%. Those savings would come from automating routine tasks and cutting down on repeated requests for information, which would give staff more time for advisory work, exceptions and complicated cases.

Governance sits inside the execution layer through Backbase’s Banking OS. Each bank decides which data, knowledge sources and tools its agents can reach, which actions they may take, and where a human must sign off. Customers must explicitly confirm any significant action. Logs of the context, checks, decisions and results support a full audit trail.

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