The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will seek input on whether digital customer engagement innovations used by financial firms should be governed by existing rules or may need new ones, commission chair Gary Gensler told Reuters. While the SEC's thinking on the subject is at an "early stage," its rules may need updating to account for an artificial intelligence-led revolution in predictive analytics, differential marketing and behavioral prompts designed to optimize customer engagement, he said. The SEC plans to launch a sweeping consultation in coming days that could have major ramifications for retail brokers, wealth managers and robo-advisers, which increasingly use such tools to drive customers to higher-revenue products. The consultation was partly sparked by January's meme stock saga, which resulted in intense scrutiny of retail broker practices, including "gamification" — game-like prompts designed to optimize customer engagement.
