The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank pinpoints mass-affluent customers, hiring more advisers at its “premier” level and seeing the segment as a feeder to wealth management.

Truist has sharpened its efforts to grow business with mass-affluent customers, including by offering premier services at a lower access point than big-bank rivals.

The super-regional bank has invested in more capabilities and services for clients in its premier segment, with the goal of attracting new clients and doing more for existing customers, said Dontá Wilson, Truist’s chief consumer and small-business banking officer, in an interview.

That includes making the experience more personalized through analytics and artificial intelligence, enhancing the rewards proposition and installing more premier advisers inside branches, Truist said Tuesday.

Truist has also expanded its digital financial planning capabilities, allowing premier clients with $250,000 in combined deposits and investments to start the financial plan process and set goals, which advisers can see and reach out to clients about. The bank plans to expand digital planning access in the future.

The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank has stepped up hiring, increasing premier adviser hiring by about 35% from a year ago, when it telegraphed intentions to boost mass-affluent business and build new branches in high-growth markets. Truist wouldn’t share its premier adviser headcount.

And AI is collecting client inputs and directing bankers to send clients down the right path, whether that’s to a financial adviser, premier banker or other point of contact at the bank, Wilson said.

Efforts are already bearing fruit, Wilson said.

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