OCBC rolls out AI avatars for wealth management

Published: 01 Jul 2026 8:10

Singapore’s OCBC Bank has unveiled a first-of-its-kind mobile app in Southeast Asia that uses artificial intelligence (AI) avatars to provide round-the-clock wealth management services to its customers.

Dubbed OCBC WoW, the app features two digital avatars – Wendy and Wayne – that can interact with customers via voice or text, track investment portfolios in real-time, deliver personalised market news, and offer actionable investment ideas based on the bank’s proprietary research.

The launch marks a major milestone in the bank’s Next Frontier corporate strategy, which places AI, digital, and data (ADD) at the core of its growth.

“We are changing the face of banking,” OCBC group CEO Tan Teck Long said during a media briefing. “Starting with wealth management, we are transforming how we engage customers with the use of avatars and hyper-personalisation in real-time.”

OCBC expects to spend over S$1bn annually over the next few years on digital infrastructure and AI capabilities. Tan said the bank prefers not to obsess over isolating AI ROI from broader digitalisation, channelling energy into innovation instead.

The avatar banking initiative focuses on driving revenue and market share rather than cost cutting. Tan said it was developed in-house at a “fraction of the cost” of traditional technology.

Augmenting the human touch

Despite AI advancements, Tan stressed the technology would complement, not replace, its human workforce. OCBC plans to hire an additional 600 human relationship managers over the next three years.

Avatars handle baseline education and real-time queries (e.g., explaining market movements at 3am), allowing human RMs to focus on complex advisory and relationship building.

Sunny Quek, head of consumer banking, expects avatars to boost engagement and market share, putting consumer banking on track to double wealth income by 2029 — a year ahead of the original 2030 target.

Safeguards and rollout plans

OCBC WoW is model-agnostic, using a mix of LLMs. Deterministic guardrails ensure avatars only draw recommendations from OCBC proprietary research, not unverified internet sources.

Simple equity transactions are supported; complex product purchases still require human RM suitability checks for regulatory compliance.

Beta testing with 50 invited Premier Private Client customers (minimum S$1.5m AUM). Progressive rollout over 12 months in Singapore, then overseas. English first; Mandarin, Bahasa Melayu, and Bahasa Indonesia to follow.

Future expansion planned beyond wealth management to insurance and core banking services.