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Vanguard Group’s new chief executive said on Monday that the asset management giant could rely on artificial intelligence to improve its customer service experience.
Vanguard, known as a low-cost and investor-friendly brokerage, has come under criticism for its customer service in recent years. One of the common complaints on online forums is the difficulty of contacting Vanguard representatives by phone.
CEO Salim Ramji told CNBC’s Bob Pisani on Monday that improving customer experience “is a top priority for me” and that artificial intelligence looks to be a promising future Ways to help.
“A lot of the improvements we’ve seen recently in some of our customer experiences are due to the application of machine learning or artificial intelligence instances,” said Ramji, who officially takes over the company. Top Roles of July 8.
The CEO pointed to scenario planning and digital onboarding as areas where AI can help.
“We are conducting a series of field experiments and field pilots,” he said.
Ramji joins Vanguard from rival BerRock, making him the first outside CEO of the asset manager, which is worth about $9 trillion. The Malvern, Pa.-based company has been a key force in reducing investment costs since its founding in the 1970s. Vanguard, which is privately held by its clients, typically launches new products and services more slowly than some of its public market peers.
The new CEO has given no indication that he plans a major cultural shakeup at Vanguard, founded by index fund pioneer Jack Bogle. For example, Ramji has said that he has no plans to launch a Bitcoin ETF, which has been a huge success at BlackRock.
“I hope to continue to maintain the company’s purpose and mission,” Ramji said.
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