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Vanguard's new CEO said Monday that the wealth management giant could use artificial intelligence to improve its customer service.
Vanguard, which has built its reputation as a low-cost, investor-friendly brokerage firm, has faced criticism over its customer service in recent years. One common complaint in online forums is that it is difficult to reach a Vanguard representative by phone.
CEO Salim Ramji told CNBC's Bob Pisani on Monday that improving the customer experience is “at the top of my priority list” and that artificial intelligence appears to be a promising solution.
“Many of the improvements we have seen recently in terms of customer experience have come from applications of machine learning or artificial intelligence cases,” said Ramji, who officially took over the top position on July 8.
The CEO pointed to scenario planning and digital onboarding as areas where AI could be helpful.
“We have a whole series of live experiments and live pilot projects underway,” he said.
Ramji joins Vanguard from rival BlackRock, making him the first outside CEO of the roughly $9 trillion asset manager. The Malvern, Pennsylvania-based company has played a key role in lowering investment costs since its founding in the 1970s. Vanguard is privately owned by its clients and generally brings new products and services to market more slowly than some of its publicly traded rivals.
The new CEO has shown no signs of having any plans for a major cultural overhaul at Vanguard, which was founded by index fund pioneer Jack Bogle. For example, Ramji has said he has no plans to launch a Bitcoin ETF, which has been a huge hit at BlackRock.
“I want to continue the company’s purpose and advance its mission,” Ramji said.