2026 Golden Stone Awards | Agricultural Bank of China: Digital Employee "Yiming" Safeguards Consumer Peace of Mind

Special Topic: 2026 Jinshi Award and Excellent Cases in Financial Consumer Protection Selection

The results of the “2026 Jinshi Award and Excellent Cases in Financial Consumer Protection” event hosted by Sina Finance have been announced. This issue features outstanding cases of financial technology innovation services. Among many competing financial institutions, China Agricultural Bank stood out and was awarded the “Outstanding Case in Financial Technology Innovation Services” for their submission titled “Digital Staff ‘Ming’ Protects Consumers’ Peace of Mind.”

Below is a brief overview of the case:

Some customers, due to age, cognitive habits, and other factors, often face issues such as information asymmetry and weak risk awareness, making them vulnerable to financial fraud and other scams. Agricultural Bank of China deeply implements the “Finance for the People” philosophy, actively applies new productive forces, and integrates artificial intelligence with AI agent technology to create the digital staff “Ming.” Through intelligent and digital means, it provides safer and more convenient financial services to a broad customer base, effectively strengthening the bank’s consumer protection efforts, improving financial literacy among the public, and enhancing their self-protection capabilities.

“Ming” was launched in April 2024. It evolved from a retail and corporate client manager “smart Q&A assistant” that answered questions instantly, into a versatile digital staff serving 100,000 bank managers, effectively promoting efficiency in financial service processes and intelligent improvements in consumer protection work. With the support of intelligent agent technology, “Ming” now possesses the following six core capabilities:

1. Intelligent Q&A: Helping client managers respond promptly and accurately to customer inquiries. “Ming” combines cutting-edge technologies such as intelligent knowledge bases and large AI models, allowing managers to ask questions directly via text or voice to the AI robot and receive real-time answers. Its knowledge scope covers various financial topics, anti-fraud, and consumer protection, aiming to solve pain points like information overload, high pressure, and limited energy among staff, and to create a smart assistant that empowers managers to “understand at a glance.”

2. Intelligent Practice: Using multi-scenario simulations to train managers in financial knowledge dissemination and understanding complex product risks. It can simulate interactions with elderly, farmers, white-collar workers, and other customer groups, as well as demonstrate service skills of “excellent managers.” Managers can access the training anytime and anywhere via their phones, learn, practice, and review feedback to improve their consumer protection service levels.

3. Appropriate Financial Services: Leveraging big data platforms to help managers understand customer needs deeply and provide targeted services promptly; utilizing digital product centers and expert recommendations for precise financial matching; applying AI-generated large models to assist in generating communication scripts. This supports managers in completing appropriate financial services and targeted consumer protection workflows, forming a closed loop of “identifying customer needs, matching products accurately, generating marketing scripts, sending direct banking purchase links, and recording performance in real-time.”

4. Convenient User Experience: “Ming,” the AI client manager assistant, covers service scenarios across branches, outreach, and online channels, demonstrating 24/7 companionship and service warmth regardless of location. Managers can ask with a single click and get instant responses—reliable, convenient, and intelligent—helping customers improve financial literacy, prevent risks, plan wealth, and seize future opportunities.

5. AI Consumer Protection Functionality: On one hand, it has launched a consumer protection review feature where users upload posters, promotional texts, and product descriptions. The system automatically matches relevant consumer rights protection laws and internal compliance requirements, intelligently identifies risks such as misleading statements and exaggerated claims, and outputs structured review opinions to ensure content legality and compliance. On the other hand, it enables online processing of all complaints, multi-dimensional statistical analysis, and system-based screening for personal information protection risks.

6. Consumer Protection Promotional Material Creation: Using functions like “Ming” image-to-text, marketing copy generation, and promotional material creation, it helps produce financial knowledge educational content, enhancing the quality and effectiveness of consumer protection education.

From the practical results of digital human implementation, since the AI assistant’s promotion six months ago, 100,000 managers across the bank have used it, with over 690,000 questions answered, effectively helping managers respond promptly to customer inquiries and conduct one-on-one financial knowledge education. Since the launch of the intelligent practice feature, it has been used 410,000 times for 3,400 hours, and served as an “AI examiner” in manager competitions, effectively improving managers’ professional skills, knowledge, and service efficiency. The goal is to enhance customers’ financial literacy, increase their wealth reserves, and guide them in wealth management planning. Through coordinated online and offline channels, it accompanies customers’ long-term growth, improves financial literacy, and earns long-term trust.