Bath Building Society has teamed up with Consectus to launch a “conversational AI chatbot” aimed at brokers, making it the first major lender to do so.
The chatbot, named Bea or Bath’s electronic assistant, is in addition to the mutual’s live chat function and aims to make brokers’ lives easier.
Bea is able to answer questions about the mutual’s lending criteria and frequently asked questions.
For complex questions, Bath BS said Bea will immediately transfer brokers to the support team during office hours or provide an option to send an email to the team out of office hours.
Bath Building Society’s chief commercial officer, Colin McDougall (pictured), said the mutual knew its intermediary partners were “busy people” who were looking for a “quick and straightforward answer” to mortgage criteria related questions.
He continued: “By introducing an efficient AI chatbot we hope to provide quick answers to our most frequently asked questions relating to our criteria all day and every day.
“However, having an experienced mortgage consultant available is very important to us and in normal business hours our team will only be a click away if needed. I am pleased to welcome Bea and believe she will be soon be an invaluable member of the team.”
Paul D’Ambra, chief executive at Consectus, said: “It’s great to see our AI Chatbot being used to support Bath’s intermediaries whilst freeing up staff to deal with more complex queries and added value activities.”
Anna is currently the deputy editor for Mortgage Solutions and editor for Specialist Lending Solutions. She has worked as a journalist since 2019, having secured her Gold Standard NCTJ diploma from News Associates in a fast-track six-month course.
She started her career as a report at specialist publication The Insurance Insider covering a wide range of areas before joining Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions in 2021.
In her role, she helps put together and structure the news agenda for the day and writes up press releases, reports, interviews, analyses and exclusives across both titles. She also commissions blogs for Specialist Lending Solutions and hosts online masterclasses and in-person events across the business.
She has been shortlisted for three journalism awards, which include BIBA Journalist and Media Awards Scoop of Year Award in 2020, Headline Money Mortgage Journalist of the Year Award (B2B) in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to being a journalist, Anna worked in ecommerce across Snow + Rock, Cycle Surgery and Runners Need websites, and before that worked at specialist financial PR firm Rostrum.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys reading, seeing live music, and cooking for friends and family. When she gets a chance, she also enjoys hiking, skiing and indoor rock climbing.
