Itaú Targets Full Customer Access for AI Service by End of 2026

Brazilian bank Itaú plans to make its ia.i conversational service available to its entire customer base by the end of 2026, expanding an initial rollout that has reached about 300,000 customers.

Customers can interact with ia.i by text or voice to ask about accounts, credit, cards and insurance. The service can also connect them with human support. Itaú began introducing AI features for specific financial needs in 2024.

The bank is also using AI for employee tasks through IARA, a platform that provides teams with governed access to multiple AI models. OpenAI is among the providers available through IARA. The platform supports internal policies for model use, controls on usage and costs, and the bank’s responsible AI policies.

IARA supports a tool for Itaú’s legal department that works across a repository of more than 90 million documents. The tool handles more than two million tasks each month, with efficiency gains of 20% to 80% across different stages of the department’s processes.

Employee uses include preparing for customer meetings, summarizing information and developing plans. Itaú expects the tools to triple the time employees can devote to customer relationships, make service up to twice as fast and make conversations up to three times more effective.

Planned customer features include product simulations and sign-ups, as well as recurring analyses of customers’ income, expenses and habits. Itaú’s goal is to extend ia.i access across its customer base by year-end 2026.