OCBC has launched an AI-native banking app featuring two avatars, Wendy and Wayne, that deliver real-time, personalised wealth management services around the clock, marking what the bank describes as the first AI-native banking app of its kind in South-East Asia.
The app, OCBC WoW, is built on an AI-native environment underpinning OCBC’s “Next Frontier” corporate strategy, which centres on AI, Digital and Data (ADD). The beta version is being rolled out on an invitation-only basis to a selected group of employees and customers currently served by OCBC Premier Private Client wealth advisors, who hold a minimum of S$1.5 million in assets under management.
Avatars deliver portfolio intelligence in real time
Wendy and Wayne interact with customers through voice or text, offering curated market news, portfolio tracking, and investment ideas tailored to individual risk profiles. The avatars draw on real-time data from seven market indices and commodities, with plans to expand coverage to twelve.
The platform is structured across four technology layers: data ingestion of market information and customer behaviour, AI deterministic guardrails, AI agents operating at scale, and output modules that customers directly experience.
“We are changing the ‘face of banking’. Starting with wealth management, we are transforming how we engage customers with the use of avatars and hyper-personalisation on a real-time basis, 24/7,” said OCBC Group CEO Tan Teck Long.
Built on earlier AI investments
OCBC WoW extends earlier AI initiatives within the group. A Gen AI-powered coaching programme for wealth advisors, rolled out earlier this year, helped participants secure double the number of weekly client appointments within three months, alongside a 50 per cent uplift in revenue compared with the prior quarter.
Bank of Singapore, OCBC’s private banking arm, also introduced an agentic AI tool last year to support source-of-wealth checks within Know-Your-Customer workflows. The tool cut average preparation time for source-of-wealth reports from ten days to one hour, according to the bank.
Multilingual expansion planned
Wendy and Wayne will initially operate in English, with Mandarin, Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesia to follow. OCBC said future phases will introduce tailored insurance solutions, banking services, additional avatars, and milestone-based rewards, with a fuller public roll-out to be announced at a later date.
