AI cuts KeyBank’s call center costs by 97%

The news: On its Q4 2025 earnings call, KeyBank CEO Christopher Gorman said AI has cut call center costs by 97%, with an AI-handled call costing about 35 cents versus $9 for a human agent. He added that the bank is investing heavily in technology and operations—$900 million in 2025—with a focus on customer-facing tools.

KeyBank says its use of AI in the contact center has cut the per‑call cost by roughly 97%, from about 9 dollars with a human agent to around 0.25–0.35 dollars when handled by AI.

What KeyBank reported

• On KeyBank’s Q4 2025 earnings call, CEO Christopher Gorman said AI has reduced call center costs by 97%.​

• He quantified this as AI‑handled calls costing about 0.35 dollars versus 9 dollars for a human agent.​

• Other industry coverage describes the same figure as a drop “from nine dollars to just 35 cents” per interaction.​

• A separate write‑up on the initiative cites AI‑handled calls averaging about 0.25 dollars, again framing this as a 97% per‑call cost reduction compared with the 9‑dollar human cost.​

How AI is doing it

• KeyBank has rolled out a conversational AI assistant (MyKey) built on Google’s conversational AI, initially focused on contact center efficiency and customer self‑service.

• The assistant can handle common banking tasks, surface answers or actions in real time, and only routes the customer to a human agent if it cannot resolve the query.

• By automating high‑volume routine interactions and supporting agents with real‑time knowledge, the bank cuts labor time per issue, which drives the large cost‑per‑call reduction it is reporting.