Google searches for “best bank for travel” are up 1,032% in the past year. The data explains why.
A study by Gradient Labs, a company building AI agents for finanсial services, finds that 39% of travellers have switched or seriously considered switching banks after a poor support experience abroad.
The issue is widespread: 1,000 of the 1,998 travellers surveyed reported experiencing a card, payment, or banking issue abroad in the past two years.
- Nearly a quarter (23%) waited 30 minutes or more to speak to someone at their bank abroad, and 6% nеver got through at аll.
- Half of respondents rated their bank as unhelpful, with one in three waiting days for a resolution.
The loyalty damage is lasting. 35% of affected travellers actively warned friends or family away from their bank based on how it handled a prоblem abroad.
The inverse is smaller but telling: 12% have recommended a bank specifically because it handled an issue well.
“Our research shows that banking problems abroad are common and costly: 40% of travelers have lost more than $200, and one in four has been forced into dеbt. At the same time, rapid resolution is entirely achievable. Banks that pull it оff are not the ones with fundamentally superior infrastructure,” said Dimitri Masin, CEO of Gradient Labs.
“They provide fаst, human-like incident response, 24/7, in any language, across аll channels and аll time zones. This is exactly the kind of consistency a competent AI agent can provide. And loyalty is truly at stake, as frequent travelers are actively looking for a bank that won’t let them down abroad.”
Masin said two things matter overseas: time and resolution.
“Every minute spent waiting in line abroad has a real cost, such as a missed flight, disrupted plans, or a night you didn’t book. And a stranded customer doesn’t need to wait 30 minutes to find out why their card is blocked; they need it working again, and as quickly as possible,” he said.
Research suggests poor service abroad can drive customers to switch banks. What are the most important actions banks can take to retain those customers?
“Make customer experience a top priority. It’s a product that must compete on speed and problem-solving, in the customer’s language, at any time of day, and be handed over to a specialist with full context when needed. Consistency is crucial: deliver the same fast and high-quality results at 3 AM in a foreign time zone as at 3 PM at home, every time. That’s a design choice banks can make now,” said Masin.
‘The thing is, infrastructure can’t simply be “fixed.” It’s a highly regulated industry, and many of the seemingly problematic aspects are actually essential: fraud monitoring, background checks, and consumer protection obligations exist for a reason. However, customer service can be improved within these parameters, and that’s encouraging. Most problems abroad boil down to legitimate activity being flagged as unusual, and they’re quickly resolved if customers can contact their bank quickly and actually get through to let the bank know it’s them.
Masin said Gradient AI agents can deliver faster, more consistent support.
“Our agents are already doing this in production for names like Wise, Current, Zego and Pockit, so this isn’t theory. In every single deployment across our customer base, customer satisfaction scores are higher than human teams,” he explained.
“At one of the largest AI support deployments in European banking, at a digital bank with around 10 million customers, the agent runs at a 98% quality score, above the bank’s own 95% human benchmark, with 84% CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score) on complex cases like disputes and blocked payments. Pockit reached 70% end-to-end resolution and 80% CSAT within six months.”
In 2025, international inflows reached record levels and continue to grow, meaning that for a growing share of customers, “banking abroad” is simply banking, added Masin.
“I expect customer service quality to become a real driver of customer acquisition and retention in the next few years, ranking alongside fees and bonuses. People will no longer compare their bank’s service quality to other banks,” he said.
“They will compare it to the service quality of their favourite consumer apps like Uber or Amazon. And supporting cross-border transactions is a near-perfect testing ground for it: high interest rates, responsiveness, strict rules, and clear results.”
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