Artificial Intelligence a « robolution » in financial services - Viewpoint - careers advice blog Viewpoint careers advice blog

Artificial Intelligence a « robolution » in financial services - Viewpoint - careers advice blog After half a century of small breakthroughs, Artificial Intelligence (AI), a term first coined by American computer scientist John McCarthy in 1956, is now sweeping the world. New programming techniques, such as Machine (ML) or Deep Learning (DL), make computer models able to learn, unlike the standard pre-programmed algorithms of the past. For the financial services sector, this will translate into significant cost savings and a huge increase in productivity. Does this mean robots will take all the jobs? No, for employees in the sector, AI will make life easier and help them focus on what really matters: serve the clients’ needs better. The new industrial revolution Certainly, AI â€" an umbrella term that basically describes computers acting intelligently could dramatically alter our working and employment landscape. Recent research by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) predicts that by 2025, adoption of advanced robots will boost productivity by up to 30 per cent in many industries. “Deep Learning is now an integral part of the tool box needed to analyse big data and assist leaders in the decision-making process in a growing number of companies whatever their sector. Currently, it’s mostly large companies, for instance in the banking and insurance sectors that are adopting solutions using artificial intelligence, because they have the data and the capacity to invest in these innovative technologies” says Jean-Claude Heudin, an AI scientist and researcher who heads the Institute of Internet and Multimédia in France. More personalized services in retail banking Financial institutions have already started to adopt AI technologies. Many retail banks already apply them to customer servicing on the internet, by offering smart chat bots to assist online clients with their queries. This type of service is particularly popular among the new generation of consumers, as digital natives prefer digital servicing channels over physical branches or calling in. They also already have experience of AI in on their smart phones with digital assistants such as Cortana, Siri or Google Now. In March this year, Santander claimed to be first bank in the UK to enable customers using an iPhone to talk to its banking app, SmartBank. Thanks its voice recognition technology, clients can tell their mobile phones to monitor and recount their spending habits, and make payments on the move. Meanwhile RBS has been testing an AI solution called ‘Luvo’ among 1,200 staff who manage relationships with small businesses. It assists them by understanding their questions and then filtering through masses of information in a split second before responding with the answer. “Luvo is a really exciting new technology that brings artificial intelligence to life and will help our staff serve customers better by resolving their questions and problems much more quickly. Its potential is huge and we’ll be exploring if Luvo could talk to customers directly to answer straightforward questions, freeing up time for our staff to answer complex issues” said Simon McNamara, RBS Chief Administrative Officer. Amid a growing, and unmanageable amount of data every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data according to IBM â€" AI will help financial institutions by quickly sifting through all this information, offering a more personalised service in real-time, at much lower costs. AI in investment banking and AML Compliance In investment banking, automated trading already accounts for about 75 percent of all financial market volume according to Reuters. The new generation of AI-driven trading platforms is now arriving, with Silicon Valley companies such as Sentient, Ayasdi or Vicarious, a company backed by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, offering such technologies. Unlike the current, traditional financial algorithms used for trading, AI systems can take a larger and more complex number of factors into account, and adapt accordingly. According to Eurekahedge, a survey of AI-driven hedge funds revealed they had increased about 7 percent so far this year, including a 1.8 percent gain during the post-Brexit uncertainty. It therefore should be no surprise that the financial services sector is leading others in adopting AI. “Financial services, I believe, can and will lead the world into this era,” IBM Chief Executive Officer Ginni Rometty said at the Sibos conference in Geneva last month, adding: “The ultimate competitive advantage is being cognitive.” Stephen Hawking once famously said that the “development of artificial intelligence could spell the doom and end of human race.” However, in the FS sector, AI could, on the contrary ensure a business’s survival. I hope you found this content useful. You may also be interested in these similar blogs: From panama with(out) love: privacy and data security in financial services Robust returns in residential development and student accommodation The café generation: how tech culture is spreading to financial services Why modular financial banking means flexible candidates Are budgets worth the effort? Share this blog: