Singapore – DBS is expanding the generative AI and agentic AI capabilities of its virtual banking assistants, DBS Joy and DBS digibot, which together serve more than 10 million customers across Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The bank said DBS Joy became fully agentic in Singapore earlier this week, allowing corporate and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) customers to complete selected banking tasks through a single conversation rather than simply retrieve information.
DBS digibot, meanwhile, has had Gen AI capabilities across Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan since earlier this year. The bank plans to introduce wealth-related conversational capabilities from August, followed by agentic AI and voice AI features in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The virtual assistants are expected to handle more than one million chats each month. DBS said the agentic capabilities will only be activated after customers log in to DBS IDEAL or DBS/POSB digibank, with the AI acting on instructions initiated by authenticated customers.
DBS Group Chief Operating Officer Derrick Goh, “The true value of AI lies in delivering meaningful outcomes for customers at scale. Today, DBS Joy and DBS digibot serve more than 10 million customers across the region, enabling us to bring Gen AI and agentic AI into everyday banking interactions. Building on more than a decade of AI innovation, we are taking the next leap forward – moving from helping customers find information to helping them get things done. This is especially significant in corporate banking, where digital assistants remain uncommon and agentic capabilities even more so. By combining our deep digital capabilities, trusted customer relationships and proprietary AI platforms, we are reimagining how banking services are delivered.”
DBS Joy is currently available to 350,000 corporate users in Singapore, who can use its new agentic capabilities to obtain account and transaction information and complete selected tasks through natural-language conversations.
Customers can ask questions about payments, transfers and fees, with DBS Joy retrieving and analysing relevant transaction and account data within the conversation. The bank said this builds on the assistant’s previous role of providing instructions for customers to locate information themselves.
The enhanced DBS Joy will be extended to another 100,000 users in Hong Kong in September before being progressively rolled out across DBS’ other key markets.
DBS said recent transaction enquiries are among the most common requests received by DBS Joy, alongside questions about navigating DBS IDEAL and tracking payment statuses.
The assistant will also gain live chat capabilities that allow customers to connect with a human agent when necessary. DBS plans to introduce a transition from chat to phone conversations in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The bank is also expanding DBS Joy’s knowledge of its SME banking products, solutions and programmes, allowing businesses to use the assistant to discover relevant banking support in addition to servicing their requests.
In Singapore, chats on DBS Joy increased 22% in the first six months of 2026, while active users rose 61%. DBS said the growth contributed to a 7% reduction in calls and emails to customer service, while customer satisfaction scores increased 17% over the same period.
DBS digibot, which was first launched in 2016, currently serves more than five million customers in Singapore and four million across Hong Kong and Taiwan.
In the first half of 2026, DBS said the assistant resolved nine in every 10 queries digitally without customers requiring a follow-up call.
Its Gen AI capabilities are designed to interpret customer requests and provide responses and guidance for everyday banking needs, including card queries, refunds, fee waivers and remittances.
From August, DBS digibot will be integrated into digiWealth, the bank’s wealth management platform for mass-market and emerging affluent customers. The bank said the integration is intended to help customers with wealth-related queries and investment decisions, while facilitating contact with dedicated wealth planning managers for more tailored advice.
In the fourth quarter, DBS plans to introduce agentic and voice AI capabilities to digibot. The assistant will be able to support selected customer journeys, including checking card usage, tabulating card reward points, requesting fee waivers, blocking or replacing cards, identifying when customers may benefit from advice from a wealth planning manager and supporting selected wealth servicing requests.
The changes are intended to allow customers to complete more tasks within a single conversation, while maintaining escalation paths to human support for situations that require it.
