The use of software to automate business and financial processes is one the most significant transformations of the information age. While much of the development in this area has focused on making organizations more efficient by streamlining internal processes, the consumer-facing side of financial automation has also had a major impact on the financial lives of millions of households. The ability to set up automatic savings deposits and bill payments has saved time and facilitated the growth of emergency savings for households living on low and moderate incomes (LMI). Now a new generation of apps, such as Otomo, are incorporating more advanced artificial intelligence (AI) processes into consumer-facing financial automation, which allows them to provide adaptive guidance that responds in real time to customers’ cash flows, values, and activities.

This research and associated work was completed with the support of JPMorgan Chase & Co.