LHV Bank will be undertaking a proof of concept (PoC) with Gradient Labs to deeply explore the use of agentic artificial intelligence within its retail customer service operations. The initial phase of this technological exploration will focus primarily on optimizing email-based communications.
The PoC is designed to assess exactly how agentic AI systems—which are uniquely capable of planning, reasoning, and taking controlled actions across predefined workflows—could effectively assist human customer support teams. LHV Bank aims to determine if these advanced systems can handle routine and complex customer enquiries more efficiently and consistently than traditional methods.
The initiative will actively explore opportunities to improve overall response quality and significantly reduce turnaround times. Crucially, this will be done while ensuring appropriate human oversight remains in place, strictly aligning the technology with LHV Bank’s stringent governance, risk, and regulatory requirements.
Safely navigating financial services support
To execute this PoC, LHV Bank has partnered with Gradient Labs, an AI support platform that specializes specifically in safely navigating sensitive customer support operations for the financial services sector. Gradient Labs builds AI agents that automate call centre voice, text, and email experiences, boasting deep domain expertise and a product purpose-built for the inherent complexities of finance.
Through this collaborative effort, the two firms will test selected customer support use cases within a highly controlled environment. LHV Bank stressed that there will be a strong, ongoing emphasis on the explainability, auditability, and clear accountability of the AI’s actions.
Executive perspectives on responsible innovation
Kris Brewster, interim CEO of LHV Bank, highlighted the strategic importance of the trial.
“Customer support is a critical touchpoint for retail banking, and the potential use of agentic AI in this area is an exciting opportunity to enhance our service offering,” Brewster stated. He further clarified the bank’s cautious approach, adding: “This proof of concept allows us to explore how agentic AI could support our teams with email-based customer enquiries, while keeping human judgement and customer protection firmly in place.”
Dimitri Masin, CEO at Gradient Labs, echoed the importance of balancing speed with empathy in the financial sector.
“We’re pleased to collaborate with LHV Bank on this initiative. With retail banking, we know how important it is to deliver speed, accuracy, and empathy in one-on-one customer interactions,” Masin commented. “Being able to do it at scale, and safely within this highly regulated environment, is a huge leap forward for customer support in financial services.”
LHV Bank explicitly noted that the current proof of concept is entirely exploratory in nature and does not currently involve fully automated decision-making for retail bank customers. The insights gathered from this initiative will ultimately inform the bank’s future approach to AI-enabled customer support and help shape the development of internal frameworks for deploying advanced AI systems.
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