UK banks are increasingly embedding AI tools within regulated products to enhance routine money management, shifting from novelty to necessity amid growing consumer trust and technological sophistication.
Artificial intelligence is becoming a standard feature inside banking apps, but the most useful systems are still designed to guide, not replace, human judgement. That distinction matters because the tools embedded by banks sit within regulated products, unlike the third-party chatbots that have already been linked to poor advice and financial losses, according to research cited by The Independent.
Starling Bank this week launched what it calls “smart tools” in its mobile app, built around pre-set prompts that help customers work out which features may be useful for their money management. The bank said its Assistant can already handle voice and natural-language requests, while upcoming functions include a “weekend damage” prompt that estimates overspending and helps rebuild a budget for the rest of the month. Starling said the assistant was developed using its own technology with Google Gemini and Google Cloud.
The move reflects a wider shift across UK banking. NatWest has already expanded its Cora digital assistant with generative AI, while also becoming the first UK bank to offer an app within ChatGPT for home-buying and remortgage guidance. Zopa has also redesigned its app to include a conversational assistant that can be instructed to move money between accounts, and Metro Bank and Plum have each introduced AI-driven spending insights and goal tracking. The trend suggests banks are using AI less as a novelty and more as a layer for routine decision support.
Starling’s own comments suggest the technology may be reaching more than just early adopters. Bernadette Smith, the bank’s chief banking officer, told The Independent that some of the strongest users are customers the bank did not initially expect, including newer clients and those less comfortable with AI, because they value being directed to the right action rather than navigating menus themselves. That points to a broader design change: the most effective banking AI may be the kind that reduces friction without requiring users to understand how the system works.
Other firms are pushing the idea further. Bunq said in its AI in Finance report earlier this year that 60 per cent of millennials had used AI to make a financial decision, while one in three younger Britons had set aside more than £500 through AI-guided decisions. Scottish Widows, meanwhile, said almost 30 per cent of people trust AI for retirement-savings help, though it stressed that human reassurance still matters for larger and more complex decisions. Its chief customer officer, Maria Herrero-Bullich, said trust is essential as AI becomes a normal part of money management.
The next phase, according to Moneyhub’s head of public policy Nejc Korosec, is likely to be more proactive. He argued that the advice gap and the large sums sitting in low-interest accounts are partly data problems, which better infrastructure could help address. But he also warned that poor implementation would simply make old financial frictions happen faster. For consumers, that remains the central point: AI inside banking apps can be useful, but only if it is accurate, limited and clearly tied to the user’s real finances.
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