Today we announced that we’ve purchased the technology behind Ernest. This makes Moneyfarm the first digital wealth manager to explore the use of a personal finance chatbot to help individuals manage their money and investments.
Ernest is a personal banker, powered by artificial intelligence. Leveraging Facebook messenger Ernest connects with an individual’s bank accounts. Ernest combines natural language processing technology with machine learning. The new technology has had two modes of operation: answering questions and proactive notifications. All with the aim of helping an individual manage their money better.
We’re working to combine the technology behind Ernest with our existing services. Our mission is to provide customers with the best solution to protect and grow their wealth, based on their need and where they are in their wealth journey. The Ernest technology has the ability to tap into the daily transactional behaviour of customers, and this will prove critical as we work to provide more personalised financial advice that considers broader spending habits.
Giovanni Daprà, Co-Founder and CEO of Moneyfarm, commented: “Artificial intelligence and a conversational user interface will help us to improve our algorithms and ultimately offer a better product to our customers. As we work to integrate chatbot technology across our product offering we’ll be able to assist over an individual’s full wealth lifecycle, from the first pay cheque through to retirement.”
Niall Bellabarba, co-founder of Ernest said: “Moneyfarm’s acquihire of the Ernest technology provides the opportunity to accelerate the vision for Ernest, to create a better financial adviser for consumers. We’d like to thank everyone who has supported Ernest so far, and we’re excited by Moneyfarm’s vision for the future of the technology.”
