AmBank (M) Berhad redefines the way banks approach and handle savings

Its Lazy Money model was recognised at the Malaysia Technology Excellence Awards.

AmBank (M) Berhad built a machine-learning based “Lazy Money” model and was awarded the Analytics - Banking Award at the Malaysia Technology Excellence Awards 2022. The awards programme recognises innovative and key players in the tech industry of Malaysia, and AMMB has set itself apart by introducing a new model that aims to help banks improve savings retention without diluting customer value. 

Customers have varying degrees of sophistication and financial literacy when it comes to managing money. AmBank built a segment-of-one-model that analyses the ideal liquidity that a customer needs to maintain as cash, with the rest potentially being diverted to higher yield. The objective was to understand which customers maintain excess liquidity. The power of technology allows financial service providers to democratise the experience that was hitherto reserved for large corporates or affluent customers and deliver that same experience to all. This model allows identification of customers who may be interested in better liquidity management but need the tools and advice to get started with optimising their yield.

The model also identifies specific customer behaviours and unique factors that contribute to a tendency to accumulate lazy money. 

These findings are aimed to assist AMMB in being more efficient at prioritising and meeting customer needs, towards becoming their customers’ choice as an operating bank. This is part of a holistic and larger initiative that drives improvement in service, quality, and user experience and leverage data, to convert more and more of the bank’s customers to rely on AmBank as their primary operating bank. 

AMMB believes that digital innovation and AI/ML are making it ever more feasible to build a differentiator versus competition in meeting customer needs better. A key element of AMMB’s strategy is to be an intelligence driven bank. The goal is to empower relationship managers and online channels to transcend towards increased customer engagement from insights. AMMB is also unleashing value from monetising data for smarter and more efficient processes, better cost and risk management. 

Established as a major bank in Malaysia with over three million customers, both individual and corporate, AMMB has solidified its position in the banking industry through advanced data analytics, digital innovation and customer experience improvement.