Thew new digital employee has already been tried and tested as part of the bank's internal IT support team, holding over 4000 conversation with 700 employees during a three-week period.

"Amelia solved the majority of issues without delay,” says Rasmus Järborg, SEB's chief strategy officer. “Customer service is a key differentiator in the competition for customers. Amelia will be an additional way for us to increase accessibility for our customers and make our service even more individualised.”

The bank is working with IPsoft to train and develop Amelia for her new role as a front-line customer service agent.

Built with semantic understanding, Amelia interacts with customers through natural language and even senses emotions, claims IPsoft chief Chetan Dube.

“Digital employees will change the way in which banks manage their business and provide a platform for new services," he says. "SEB is a clear forerunner when it comes to understanding the potential of the digital transformation, and is now gaining a headstart by placing Amelia in direct contact with customers."

SEB is not alone among banks in exploring the furthest reaches of artificial intelligence. RBS in the UK is getting ready for the debut of Luvo, an AI-based chatbot built using IBM's Watson cognitive computing capability, while ABN Amro has prototyped a bot that can estimate a customer's maximum mortgage after answering a few basic questions.

RBS says it will make Luvo accessible via its webchat service in December, starting with around 10 percent of its Scottish customer base. The bank believe that in the future, the cognitive chat bot could begin using IBM Watson Alchemy Language capability to better understand how a customer is feeling - for example, if they are unhappy or frustrated - and then change its tone and actions accordingly.