In this section, we explore the applications of ChatGPT across six key areas within the financial services sector: financial customer service, financial planning, risk management, portfolio analysis, insurance services, and fraud prevention (Fig. 1). These areas are not only representative of the core functions of financial institutions but also interconnected. By analyzing these domains, we can illustrate how ChatGPT enhances efficiency, personalization, and decision-making across the entire financial ecosystem.
The reason we selected these six areas is that they encompass the critical functions within financial services, each contributing to the effectiveness of financial operations. These domains are central to financial institutions’ ability to serve customers, manage risk, and optimize investment strategies. Moreover, the synergies between these areas allow for cross-domain improvements. For example, the improvements in customer service through ChatGPT provide richer data that can directly inform more tailored financial planning, while real-time risk management can also support better fraud detection and prevention.
These areas also represent key challenges and opportunities for innovation in financial services. As the financial industry continues to face increasing demands for efficiency, personalization, and security, ChatGPT offers a powerful tool to address these challenges. By exploring these six domains, we aim to demonstrate the interconnectedness of ChatGPT’s applications and their potential to enhance the entire financial ecosystem.
Financial customer service and support
Traditional intelligent customer service provides comparatively regular answers to users’ repetitive questions, which reduces the cost of communicating with human beings to some extent, but such mechanical answers often lack emotion. Nevertheless, ChatGPT, an emerging technology with robust natural language processing capabilities, thinks and expresses itself more human-likely and can answer more complex questions and give constructive responses (Deng and Lin 2022). Therefore, applying ChatGPT to intelligent customer service can improve the efficiency and quality of customer service, thereby enhancing customer experience satisfaction.
ChatGPT can provide quick and accurate responses to help answer frequently asked questions, explain products and services, and provide comprehensive support like account information (Sohail et al. 2023). By adopting ChatGPT, financial institutions can provide customers with an efficient service experience while reducing labor costs.
Besides, ChatGPT can also empower virtual digital people, which has made significant progress in terms of anthropomorphic images and intelligent dialogue (Wu et al. 2023). ChatGPT can be instrumental in multiple areas, whether in intelligent customer service, branch guidance, wealth planning, or credit review.
Swiss insurance company Helvetia is testing the use of ChatGPT to advance customer service (Zeller 2023). They claim to be the world’s first publicly traded insurance company to use ChatGPT technology for direct customer contact services. Their chatbot, Clara, uses web content from Helvetia Switzerland, which allows users to get answers about insurance, pensions, and home ownership.
We tried to simulate a user having a conversation with Chatgpt:
User: Hi, I would like to get information about financial products.
ChatGPT: Hello! We are pleased to provide you with information about financial goods. Various financial instruments, such as fixed deposits, funds, and stocks, are available from our bank. Your investing preferences and risk tolerance can be communicated to me so I can make appropriate financial product recommendations for you.
User: Although I am cautious and unwilling to take many chances, I would like to receive a certain amount of return.
ChatGPT: Our time deposits could be a good fit for you if you like low-risk investments but yet want to get a certain level of return. Time deposits are a less risky, more stable investment choice that often has a fixed interest rate. You may select the deposit duration and amount, and we will provide you with the matching interest rate and anticipated return based on your selection.
Financial planning and personalized advice
Financial planning and individualized financial counseling are available to users of ChatGPT (Awasthi 2023). ChatGPT can provide suitable financial plans by conversing with users to learn about their financial objectives, risk tolerance, and financial situation. It can offer tailored recommendations and assist users in setting a budget or planning their finances.
According to market trends and risk choices, ChatGPT can examine significant financial data to forecast and optimize individual portfolios (Ko and Lee 2024). ChatGPT may learn about the user’s investing objectives, time horizon, risk tolerance, and other aspects through conversation and will utilize this knowledge to provide customized portfolio recommendations. It aids users in optimizing their portfolios and understanding the benefits and dangers of various investing strategies.
Although ChatGPT offers specific capabilities for personal portfolio optimization and financial planning, it is not a full-fledged alternative for investment managers or professional financial advisers (Neilson 2023). The suggestions made by ChatGPT should be regarded as a guide and combined with expert judgment.
Morgan Stanley introduced ChatGPT technology to provide personalized customer service in wealth management (Son 2023). It allows for a natural conversation with clients to understand their investment preferences and financial situation, from which customized investment advice can be provided. Morgan’s intelligent language processing capabilities facilitate smoother communication between clients and theirs, improving the experience and effectiveness of wealth management services.
We tried to simulate a conversation between a user and Chatgpt:
User: I would like to have some liquidity without locking up my money for a long period of time.
ChatGPT: If you need greater liquidity, short-term financial products may be a good option. Our bank also offers short-term financial products with flexible access, such as demand deposits and short-term bond funds. Demand deposits allow you to access your money at any time, but the interest rate is relatively low. Short-term bond funds, on the other hand, can usually be liquidated within a shorter period of time and offer relatively higher returns. You can make your choice of products according to your liquidity needs and risk tolerance.
Risk management and forecasting
The application of ChatGPT in risk assessment and early warning is mainly in the following aspects:
Risk detection and early warning. ChatGPT can identify potential risk factors and abnormal transaction practices by analyzing massive amounts of data and historical transaction records and instantly send out alerts to help financial institutions take timely measures to protect the interests of their customers (George and George 2023).
Public opinion monitoring. ChatGPT can monitor expansive public opinion by tracking social media, news reports, and other public information channels (Hariri 2023). It helps financial institutions collect and analyze more information, such as market trends, consumer behavior, and competitor dynamics, which can better predict risk.
Automated credit assessment.ChatGPT can automate credit assessment, helping financial institutions more accurately determine borrowers’ repayment ability and creditworthiness (Wood et al. 2023). ChatGPT may increase assessment accuracy while lowering human error by processing massive volumes of data and producing accurate and dependable credit assessment reports.
Real-time fraud and market risk detection Financial institutions’ security and their clients’ security can be enhanced by using ChatGPT for monitoring market risk and tracking fraudulent activities. ChatGPT can assist institutions in taking prompt action to improve risk management by monitoring fraud, spotting odd account behavior, and forecasting risks (George and George 2023).
An American quantitative hedge fund company, Two Sigma, uses ChatGPT to examine financial reports and news articles to find prospective investment opportunities and hazards. Two Sigma can automate analyzing massive amounts of data and extracting valuable information from it to understand company performance and market trends better and make more informed investment decisions by utilizing ChatGPT’s natural language processing capabilities and large-scale corpus.
Let us try to mimic a user’s Chatgpt conversation:
User: Can you offer me any advice? I recently want to invest in some stocks, but I’m concerned about the huge danger of the market.
ChatGPT: Certainly! It’s critical to consider market risk while purchasing equities. It is suggested that you put the following risk management strategies into practice:
Diversification: Remain mindful of your diversification. Diversify your assets among a variety of stocks, sectors, and even asset classes to lessen the impact of individual stock risks on your total portfolio.
Understanding of the basics of business. Before choosing your stocks, learn as much as you can about the fundamentals of the company you are investing in, such as its operational environment, competitive advantages, and financial status. As a result, your investment risk is reduced, and your ability to judge the company’s potential for future growth is enhanced.
Set stop-loss levels:……
Evaluate and adjust regularly:……
Portfolio management and analysis
ChatGPT is a helpful tool for monitoring and managing an investor’s holdings. Based on the investor’s risk tolerance, objectives, and capital condition, ChatGPT may provide personalized portfolio recommendations and optimization options (Pan et al. 2023). ChatGPT communicates as an intelligent investing and trading assistant to investors and traders, providing them with market intelligence, portfolio analysis, and trading strategy development. Depending on the investor’s tastes and objectives, ChatGPT can suggest relevant investment options, whether individualized investment advice or trade execution help. Using ChatGPT as a supporting tool, investors and traders can make smarter decisions and achieve desired results in the investment arena (Dwivedi et al. 2024).
LTX, a subsidiary of Broadridge, a leading global fintech company, announced that it had built BondGPT through GPT-4, primarily used to help customers answer various bond-related questions (York 2023). LTX takes real-time bond data from Liquidity Cloud and feeds it into the GPT-4 big language model to help financial institutions and hedge funds streamline the bond investment process and provide portfolio recommendations.
Let us try to simulate a user’s conversation with Chatgpt:
User: Hi, I’ve been thinking about rebalancing my portfolio recently. Can you give me some advice?
ChatGPT: Sure! I can offer you some advice. Please let me know your current money situation, investment goals, and risk preference.
User: I currently have $100,000 to invest. My investment goal is to increase my value over the long term, and I have a certain risk tolerance.
ChatGPT: I see. Based on your situation, I can give you some suggestions. First of all, long-term appreciation is a good goal because long-term investments usually yield better returns. Depending on your risk tolerance, you might consider the following ……
Insurance services and claims processing
We can utilize ChatGPT in insurance services to deliver customers faster quoting, enrollment, and claims processing services (Biswas 2023). By engaging in a conversation with ChatGPT, customers can get help in answering their questions with promptness, as well as get recommendations on different insurance products, and it even assists them in the claims process. This technology utilizes natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to enable insurance companies to handle customer claims more efficiently. Meanwhile, ChatGPT assists insurance companies in analyzing data to identify specific causes of loss during the claims process, improving underwriting (Lo and Singh 2023).
Zurich Insurance is testing ChatGPT technology to improve claims and modeling (Ruel 2023). They hope to use the technology to extract data from claim statements and other documents to understand specific causes of loss throughout the claims process and improve underwriting. Additionally, they have created a new patent program focusing on an AI system for automated risk checking and bill processing.
We tried to simulate a user having a conversation with Chatgpt:
User: Hi, I’m looking for information about car insurance. Can you help me?
ChatGPT: Of course! Do you have any particular concerns or things you want to know about auto insurance?
User: I want to know how to buy vehicle insurance and what documentation I need to submit.
ChatGPT: Typically, the following details are needed to obtain auto insurance: information on the car and driver, insurance history, and claims history (if any). Typically, the procedure begins with selecting an insurance provider and product, filling out the application, and submitting it. Next, underwriting and quotation follow, and the final step is to pay the insurance premium to complete the purchase.
Fraud detection and prevention
According to Roy and Lohar (2023), ChatGPT can be utilized in financial institutions to identify and stop fraud. It may evaluate consumers’ transaction histories, behavioral patterns, and risk indicators to spot possible fraud and offer effective preventative measures. Through chats with clients, ChatGPT can track and examine customer behavior, assisting financial institutions in the detection and prevention of fraudulent activity as well as the protection of customer cash and personal information.
To assist financial institutions with conducting anti-money laundering and compliance monitoring, ChatGPT can automatically analyze and monitor enormous volumes of transaction data (Aggarwal et al. 2023). It can spot anomalous transaction patterns and possible security breaches, and it can act quickly to enforce compliance. It lowers the danger of money laundering activities and aids financial institutions in more effectively identifying suspicious transactions and illicit financial flows.
Let us attempt to recreate a user’s Chatgpt conversation:
User: Hello, I recently read a news report about someone having their bank account stolen, and now I’m concerned that my account may be next. What should I do?
ChatGPT: Do not stress too much; we will look at ways to protect your bank account. First, ensure that the systems and software on your computer and mobile device are current to prevent known security vulnerabilities. Additionally, be wary of links and attachments from unknown sources.
User: I appreciate your advice. I’ll take care of these security measures. Are there any other things worth noting?
ChatGPT: Of course, there are some additional security recommendations. Avoid using public Wi-Fi networks for banking, as these can be a security risk. Also, don’t give out personal information easily ……