By Yuma Ikeshita / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. is set to start sales of a service in which avatars will help customers online and in stores.

The service will allow customers to communicate with generative AI through avatars displayed on monitors at stores. Employees can also talk to customers by controlling the avatars remotely. The group aims to meet demand from companies that are struggling with labor shortages.

The avatars will be backed by generative AI that has been trained on the characteristics of each company, as well as the features of the industry the company belongs to. The avatars can be used to communicate with customers at retail shops, or through web pages. They can also be used to offer technical guidance at manufacturing sites. Employees who cannot leave their homes can operate multiple avatars remotely or monitor the work of the generative AI. The financial group is also considering deploying the service at bank branches.

To develop the service, a digital-focused subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. formed a business tie-up with Avita Inc., a startup founded by Hiroshi Ishiguro, a professor at the University of Osaka who is known as a leading expert on androids. The group will start the service in July, becoming the first Japanese megabank group to launch in the niche. The service has already been approved by the Financial Services Agency.

The financial group and Avita began discussing the tie-up in 2023. Since then, the two companies have been examining how to bring the service to market, and it was introduced on a trial basis at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., a subsidiary of the financial group. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. has invested in Avita.

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This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.

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July 02, 2025 20:42 ET (00:42 GMT)

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