Banks and lenders are still falling short of fully capitalizing on the AI revolution

The KPMG global organization of banking professionals works with clients to set their vision for the future, execute digital transformation and deliver managed services. KPMG people combine deep industry experience with extensive technology capabilities to help you achieve your organization’s goals. Now, they see genAI emerging and are asking themselves (and the rest of the business) how this new and disruptive technology might change their world for the better.

„We still see adversaries aiming to sabotage operations, steal sensitive data and deploy ransomware, but in much smaller numbers than the financial fraudsters.” Financial services firms are performing better because of technology investments but now they need to fine-tune their digital transformation journeys. Global, multi-disciplinary teams of professionals strive to deliver successful outcomes in the banking sector. KPMG professionals ChatGPT use close connections and their understanding of key issues, with deep industry knowledge to help drive successful and sustainable technology and business transformations. This is about helping the business address big problems — speed to market with new products, for example, or risk processes. Understand the business outcome you want to achieve and then consider how you can use genAI to help solve those problems.

What we needed to understand then was that if we, as a bank, didn’t get on the agenda and lead in this space, then there wouldn’t be a bank in the future. The next transition will be around AI and how consumers use it to interact with organisations – and we need to be able to respond if we’re to succeed. A covers band gets really, really good at learning a certain suite of music and performing it in a certain way. Over time, that band will become expert at giving a very consistent performance of something they’ve effectively trained themselves in.

This documentation is essential for regulatory compliance, facilitating audits, and enabling continuous improvement of AI models. By regularly updating documentation and conducting benchmarking tests, financial institutions can ensure their AI systems remain effective, transparent, and compliant with evolving regulations. Financial institutions face a complex regulatory environment that demands robust compliance mechanisms. The integration of generative AI, particularly LLMs, offers transformative potential to automate compliance processes, detect anomalies, and provide comprehensive insights into regulatory requirements.

They’re also proving more effective in managing the disruption and risks opened up by GenAI. PwC Channel Islands’ Consulting and Transformation Leader, David O’Brien, looks at what marks out the front-runners. ChatGPT App The paper outlines how existing model risk management frameworks, which financial institutions use to assess and control risks in their decision-making tools, can be adapted for generative AI applications.

• Chances are, the last time you dealt with your financial institution, artificial intelligence was already involved.
• This week’s sidebar is about the recent applications we have seen of Gen AI from the biggest players in the industry.
• Within a month of going live, the company had registered 2.5 times more customer interactions with the chatbot than with previous human consultants.
• Yuen said more details about the genAI sandbox will be revealed later this year, noting that it should be ready to admit banks before the end of 2024.
• With experience in both the institutional and the startup side, Kundu brings his knowledge of data, AI, and how organizations work to discuss how genAI is impacting finance.

KPMG Trusted AI, is our strategic approach and framework to designing, building, deploying and using AI solution in a responsible and ethical manner so we can accelerate value with confidence. Elevate the banking experience with generative AI assistants that enable frictionless self-service. Similarly, many banks have been pursuing industry verticalization and deposit retention strategies, as well as seeking new and diversified revenue streams.

These capabilities enhance the institution’s ability to detect and respond to financial crimes promptly, reducing the risk of regulatory breaches and financial losses. By integrating LLMs into risk management processes, financial institutions can improve the accuracy and efficiency of fraud detection and compliance monitoring, ensuring robust protection against financial crimes. Recent industry reports highlight key priorities such as improving operational efficiency, enhancing customer experience, and bolstering risk management.

But it’s now possible for us to start using language in this way through our digital channels. For financial service organizations about to embark on their GenAI journey, several guiding principles should remain top of mind. First, create a strategic blueprint, setting out how you’ll prioritize and introduce GenAI use cases into your architecture, and noting what structures, skill sets, and processes you’ll need to achieve your goals.

With bank and lending customers stuck in a malaise of persistent inflation and experiencing varying degrees of financial difficulty, customers are growing impatient, putting decades-long relationships in jeopardy. Institutions know this and are trying to find new ways to not only bolster their client offerings but supercharge their own processes and productivity. A multidisciplinary approach is being taken to ensure that AI applications are fair, transparent and responsible.

Five ways to realise the GenAI potential

AI algorithms can automatically update contract templates and clauses to align with the latest legal requirements. In Financial Crime Mitigation, the AI assists business users in extracting intelligence from data, enabling quick cataloging of information such as financial crime alerts. This can identify themes or root causes that would take humans much longer to analyse manually. Temenos Generative AI also provides tailored productivity insights, such as where tuning can improve Straight Through Processing (STP). Temenos, a leader in banking software, has launched its Responsible Generative AI solutions, marking a significant advancement in AI-infused banking platforms. Temenos designed these solutions to seamlessly integrate with Temenos Core and Financial Crime Mitigation (FCM), aiming to revolutionise how banks manage data, enhance productivity, and improve profitability.

AI is not a new strategy or tool at JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank by assets. When generative AI came onto the scene, „it opened up a new aperture,” Heitsenrether told the audience, which was a mix of bankers, regulators and some vendors. About 195,000 JPMorgan employees are using the bank’s generative AI portal in some fashion, including contract reviews and communication, she said. A recent analysis by Evident that gauged banks’ efforts to develop and deploy AI technology put JPMorgan in the top spot, followed by Capital One and Royal Bank of Canada. Rounding out the top 10 were Wells Fargo, CommBank, UBS, HSBC, Citigroup, TD Bank and Morgan Stanley.

We will continue to enhance our existing AI and machine learning risk framework to cater for such risks. KPMG Ignite, a cloud-based machine learning and data science platform, was used to develop the model and scale the classification of various types of data. The model was reinforced with input from KPMG banking sector professionals and fine-tuned to the bank’s operating environment.

But they’re never going to be the original group, because they’re not able to generate completely new, fresh music. Generative AI is very much the ability, not only to deliver a performance in a certain way, but to generate new stuff at the same time. By following these principles, and embracing the possibilities of GenAI, financial organizations will be well positioned to meet the demands and challenges of tomorrow. Ground rules, in fact, are particularly essential because, as with other emerging technologies, there are risks with GenAI. It’s critical to implement safeguards, in order to build trust into the equation. Setting the GCC apart is its importance as a center for Islamic finance, a market with assets of $4.5 trillion in 2022, according to November’s ICD-LSEG Islamic Finance Development report, the latest date for which figures are available.

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As a result, Generali Poland is saving approximately 120 person-hours monthly and has shortened customer consultants’ working time by one hour per day. Within a month of going live, the company had registered 2.5 times more customer interactions with the chatbot than with previous human consultants. Evaluation methods involve techniques such as ‘grounding,’ where AI outputs are verified against trusted sources.

At the event, attendees will get a chance to see practical demonstrations from fintech companies that have successfully moved beyond the AI hype. With this springboard for delivery in place, you can then identify systems vendors or partnerships to develop your GenAI capabilities. If your organization is ready to explore the possibilities of IBM watsonx Assistant and related technologies, try watsonx Assistant for free or embed watsonx in your solutions.

The AI-based approach introduces a layer of governance and transparency into the contract management process, giving stakeholders visibility at every stage of the contract life cycle. GenAI leverages AI, machine learning (ML), neural networks, natural language processing (NLP) and optical character recognition (OCR) technology to extract and scrutinize critical data from contracts swiftly and accurately. Hovhannessian said that the adoption of GenAI will, ultimately, lead to cost reduction generated from better-informed decision-making processes and higher efficiency compared to purely manual labour. Discover the impact of the Saiber and Salmon Software alliance in the Middle East.

We worked with a major banking institution to implement a GenAI solution to analyze legal documents and extract important data points. The tool helped automate the review of thousands of commercial credit agreements, which took around 360,000 hours of manual labor annually earlier. The implementation resulted in significant time savings and reduced human error. Luc Hovhannessian, chief revenue officer, treasury and capital markets, at financial software provider Finastra, echoed this view in a separate conversation with FA. “This comes down to having the right expertise and skills to effectively understand the new risks that are created, and banks that don’t have this knowledge or understanding become at risk of malicious attacks. You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. For Sasso, it’s vital that automated threat-hunting and cybersecurity tools are integrated back into a bank’s main system so that when there is a threat, action can be taken immediately.

“Technology is moving quickly, and sometimes decisions are being made at large institutions without understanding fully what integrations are, or what they can do for you as a bank,” she says. Yuen notes that banks are now partnering with fintechs more to learn how to deploy new tech, such as crypto, DeFi, and tokenization. Bankers these days talk proudly of being less obsessed with building everything in-house, and partnering with tech companies. But from the regulator’s perspective, this is a risk, as banks are now dependent upon external vendors. Such relationships must be part of the bank’s risk-management process, Yuen said.

Unlike previous bank failures, these events were defined by technology elements, Yuen said. Firstly, SVB and others were both digitally savvy and designed to cater to tech companies. Thirdly, their downfall was accelerated by the rapid dissemination of rumor and fear over social-media networks. Whenever there’s a big technology inflection point, a new experience benchmark is set – and everyone suddenly needs to respond to what they think the possibilities of that technology might be. We’ve done a lot of good stuff to date, but now we have to seize the opportunity presented by GenAI to go further, faster and do even better for our customers.

GenAI, on the other hand, can process repetitive content faster, and with fewer inaccuracies, while also checking things like localized marketing content in different languages for regulatory matters within each jurisdiction. The integration of generative AI in AML and BSA programs presents significant opportunities for financial institutions. While challenges remain, particularly around transparency and regulatory compliance, the benefits of enhanced efficiency and improved compliance processes are substantial. Existing AI regulations in financial services are primarily focused on ensuring transparency, accountability, and data privacy. Regulatory bodies emphasize the need for financial institutions to demonstrate how AI models make decisions, particularly in high-stakes areas like AML and BSA compliance. Traditional ML models rely on predefined features and specific training data, limiting their flexibility.

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Banks will need to challenge their current understanding of AI primarily as a technology for back-office automation and cost reduction. Thinking through how GenAI can transform front-office functions and the overall business model is essential to maximizing technology’s return on investment. Banks must also recognize GenAI as just one piece of an overall innovation agenda. Using GenAI along with a balanced set of measured actions supported by a longer-term strategy will allow banks to create value for customers and shareholders while building the bank of the future.

What’s ahead for banks in AI was the topic of the first panel at this week’s Most Powerful Women in Banking event, which celebrates the top female executives in banking and finance. Heitsenrether, who was promoted to her current role in 2023, was joined on stage by Christine Livingston, a managing director at Protiviti who works with banks on their AI strategies. Banks’ use of generative artificial intelligence is on the cusp of shifting from an experimentation phase to implementation, according to the chief data and analytics officer at JPMorgan Chase . Ensure that your plan takes advantage of falling costs, but bear in mind that waiting too long could be a false economy that will cost you in unexpected ways. In some cases, it may benefit you to switch from one model to another, to adjust or upgrade, or to shuffle your priorities as the technology gets better and cheaper. Then figure out the data, talent and technology you will need to realize that ambition and develop a plan of attack that takes all factors into account.

The clients are able to manage their contracts well, manage the content, ensure appropriate vetting and scrutiny are done effectively, manage the timelines, and incorporate the electronic signing options in a seamless way. Along the macro trends, banks have turned to generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), with ambitions of improving customer experience, increasing efficiency and optimising cost and returns ultimately. But for now, much is considered hype and will require more time for concrete developments.

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The result has been reduced customer wait times, and less need for human intervention as digital agents learn how to answer more, and more complex, questions. Still, with substantial financial resources and a falling cost of training personnel in AI, banks in the GCC have an opportunity to overtake the successes of their maverick fintech rivals. The complexity of LLMs makes it challenging to interpret their decision-making processes. This lack of transparency can hinder efforts to justify AI-driven decisions to regulators and stakeholders.

An organizational culture that embraces technology, as well as the learning approaches needed to build key skills, is also essential. After all, customers are already comfortable with digital banking and self-service options. For banks and capital markets, this GenAI capability represents a double benefit. At the same time, querying multiple databases from multiple locations adds further hurdles to retrieving relevant information quickly. This is just one way that GenAI can significantly impact customer engagement.

Two-thirds of a bank’s time and investment on these projects is directed towards project analysis, testing and business/system analysis, areas ripe for AI disruption. Over half (54%) of banks in Europe and the US are planning to leverage generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) for the shift to instant payments and other payment modernization projects, research from RedCompass Labs has revealed. Our goal is finding efficiencies for our employees and getting information to them to better serve customers.

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In June, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong’s privacy regulator, issued its first personal-data protection guidelines for firms using GenAI services. The privacy regulator urged companies to establish internal AI governance committees that directly report to their boards. Banks seeking to use GenAI in their products should follow a range of principles—including ensuring that clients can opt out of using the technology and that AI models do not disadvantage or lead to an unfair bias toward certain client groups. Payments providers need to consider customer experience design, risk, technology, and data and analytics to achieve smart growth. AI is transforming customer service through chatbots and virtual assistants, providing personalized and efficient client engagement.

NTT DATA is a global banking innovator and was recently recognized as a Leader in Everest Group’s Open Banking IT Services PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2024. In our last post, we talked about how banks have traditionally been early adopters of technology that makes their operations more efficient. As banks compete to become more efficient, they offer their products and services at continually lower prices. Meanwhile, costs for financial organizations are increasing, while profits from traditional income sources are down. In the US, the giant management consultant found, 73% of time spent by bank employees has a high potential to be impacted by generative AI, some 39% by automation, and 34% by augmentation.

Traditional AI, which excels at analysis and automation, has been in use for some time now. GenAI, a more recent arrival, is all about creating sophisticated new content, designed to imitate what a skilled human could produce. Automating work and deriving cost savings are just the beginning of what could be an extraordinary chapter in GCC banking. Yet, the real opportunity lies gen ai in banking in harnessing generative AI to fuel growth—assuming the latest innovations do not overwhelm banks and result in a loss of control. In the US and Europe, challenger banks have lost some of their luster with the realization that banking is built on relationships and that retaining customer loyalty necessitates a presence across multiple—often unexciting—business clusters.

Many banks are prioritizing legacy automation capabilities (e.g., robotic process automation) in back-office functions. A clear majority of respondents say their banks are waiting for further development and testing before prioritizing front-office use cases. Economic realities are limiting banks’ investments in all technologies and GenAI is no exception.

As much processing power, computing and energy as it takes to create a model, it takes multiples of that to maintain it. Spin up thousands of different models across the enterprise and the costs rapidly multiply (as do carbon emissions). While the efficiency of existing models is rising and the cost of deploying LLMs is dropping, the market continues to see newer, larger and more capable models being deployed.

Synthetic data could also lead to a better customer experience through the designing and testing of new propositions, such as loans or investments. Banks can use the data to simulate how customers might respond to these new products or to other scenarios, like a financial recession. Some FS firms are already trialing tools in this space, but it may take some time before they are truly enterprise ready. At Impactsure Technologies, we’ve helped clients of banks generate guarantees and contracts through preapproved clauses in a matter of a few seconds without the need to go through a complex process of vetting that would have otherwise taken many days. It not only enhances the customer experience but also makes it easier to manage the processes efficiently.

Financial institutions are exploring the potential of generative AI to enhance their operations while navigating a regulatory landscape that emphasizes caution and due diligence. Regulatory bodies are concerned with the ethical implications, transparency, and accountability of AI systems. As such, financial institutions must balance innovation with regulatory compliance, ensuring that AI applications are transparent, auditable, consistent, and align with existing legal frameworks. The current atmosphere reflects a cautious optimism, with institutions actively seeking ways to harness AI’s benefits while mitigating potential risks.

To mitigate these risks, banks need to implement additional security measures, particularly in securing data, ensuring its accuracy and completeness, and maintaining service availability. GenAI is revolutionising the banking industry by enhancing operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. As the market moves toward cashless banking, GenAI introduces a unique opportunity for banks to explore untapped possibilities and overcome existing limitations. While such front-office use cases can yield high-profile wins, they can also create new risks. Appropriate controls should inform initial planning and ­­help minimize the risk of damage to service quality, customer satisfaction and the bank’s brand and reputation. Banks must also recognize that regulators will pay particular attention to customer-facing use cases and those where AI enables automated decisioning.