New Vanguard CEO says improving customer experience is a ‘very high’ priority

The new CEO at Vanguard said Monday that the asset management giant could lean on artificial intelligence as it looks to improve its customer service experience.

Vanguard, which built its reputation as a low-cost and investor-friendly brokerage firm, has seen criticism about its customer service in recent years. Difficulty in reaching a Vanguard representative on the phone is one common complaint seen in online forums.

CEO Salim Ramji told CNBC’s Bob Pisani on Monday that fixing the customer experience is “very high on my list of priorities” and that artificial intelligence looks like a promising avenue for help.

“A lot of the improvements that we’ve seen recently in some of the client experience has been due to applications of machine learning or instances of AI,” said Ramji, who officially took over the top role 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 pilots underway,” he said.

Ramji comes to Vanguard from rival BlackRock, making him the first outsider CEO for the roughly $9 trillion asset manager. The Malvern, Pennsylvania-based firm has been a key force in driving down the cost of investing since its founding in the 1970s. Vanguard is privately owned by its customers and generally launches new products and services at a slower rate than some of its public market peers.

The newcomer CEO has given no indication that he has plans for a major cultural shakeup at Vanguard, which was founded by index fund pioneer Jack Bogle. For example, Ramji has said that he does not have plans to introduce a bitcoin ETF, which has been a huge success at BlackRock.

“I want to continue the sense of purpose and mission of the company,” Ramji said.