Personal Finance Management (PFM) services based on artificial intelligence in the SberBank Online application helped to identify typical mistakes in personal finance management. Among the most common are paid subscriptions that no one uses, impulsive spending, and lack of savings even with a stable income. Ruslan Vesterovsky, Senior Vice President, Head of the Wealth Management Unit of Sberbank, spoke about this at the Financial Congress of the Bank of Russia.

According to Sberbank, on average, customers lose about a thousand rubles a month on forgotten subscriptions. Meanwhile, the Salute virtual assistant, in response to the question "Where are my cards linked?" will promptly offer to check which services the cards and accounts are linked to, and, if desired, unsubscribe from unnecessary ones.

Another major expense item is impulsive purchases on marketplaces. As the analysis of anonymized behavioral data showed, more than 60% of such spending is not related to financial goals and is not accompanied by systemic accumulation, said the top manager of Sberbank.

Users with a high proportion of spontaneous spending have an average of 30% lower savings rates than those who plan to spend and use goal-setting and progress tracking features.

AI at Sber's PFM also revealed another typical scenario - the absence of savings with regular receipts. More than 40% of customers with regular income do not create financial goals in the app and do not use savings accounts. This group is characterized by chaotic transfers between accounts and the lack of a savings strategy, as a result, even with a stable income, a safety cushion is not formed.

Ruslan Vesterovsky, Senior Vice President, Head of the Wealth Management Unit of Sberbank:

Financial health is like physical health: we don't always notice where we lose strength or resources. Artificial intelligence helps us look at our financial life from the outside, identify weaknesses and get clear recommendations. It acts as a kind of financial navigator. Like a pedometer that doesn't make you move, but helps you understand how much you've walked, AI in finance gives you support and clarity.

What AI is doing and what's changing

Our goal is to provide customers with the most complete and visual overview of key financial indicators on all surfaces of the bank's mobile application. With the help of artificial intelligence, we aggregate the most important things in the format of a dialogue with the Salute virtual assistant. With him, you can already discuss your financial behavior, expenses, get non-obvious insights about habits and advice on optimizing the budget and maximizing benefits. To start a conversation about your finances, for example, you can say or write: "Expense Digest". From there, users can move on to detailed high-quality analytics in services such as Portfolio Analytics, Financial Health, Financial Analysis, and Payment and Payout Calendars, which help them better understand their financial situation and make more informed decisions. In addition, PFM interacts with people through contextual, personalized recommendations for savings, investments, and savings that appear in the app depending on the user's life situation and help them make the most optimal decision.

Today, over 10 million Sber customers regularly use PFM with built-in artificial intelligence. 15% of them fulfill at least one personal recommendation every month: they switch to a more profitable savings product, revise the structure of expenses, and apply for tax deductions.

Users of the Portfolio Analytics service show an average annual return of 2% higher than market benchmarks. They are more active in managing their portfolios and less likely to make emotional trades.

Interest in AI investment recommendations has also grown, with the number of clients using them increasing by 31% year-on-year. These tips are especially in demand among novice investors, for whom AI has become an entry point into complex topics.

Ruslan Vesterovsky, Senior Vice President, Head of the Wealth Management Unit of Sberbank:

The main value of AI is that it helps humans better understand their financial picture. It offers suggestions based on the user's own goals and habits. We've built AI into the everyday user experience, so that it complements human choices, not replaces them. Whether a person wants to figure out how to plan a budget, save for a vacation, or optimize a portfolio, AI is always at hand. but to help the client consciously approach his decisions - to understand what he is doing, why and what it will give him.