Martijn Gribnau of Quant describes how the world of finance is being revolutionised by AI, and offers guidance on how your organisation can get ahead of the curve
The world of banking is in the midst of an upheaval like it has never experienced, with artificial intelligence touching and transforming nearly every aspect of the industry. In fact, it is thought that 54% of banking jobs could be automated via AI. Add to that the fact that chat bots already handle 70% of all inquiries, a number that will only increase as more and more agentic technology is launched globally and a vision of the coming change becomes clear.
Although almost all aspects of the banking industry will be impacted, there are some areas that will be the most immediate and apparent to you and your clients. How you navigate this change and learn to leverage it to your advantage is the key to your future.
Deposits and liquidity management
For the most part, people have now completely adapted to banking online. In fact, only 8% of people actually do their banking in-person, as illustrated by the fact that branch numbers are down by 40% in Europe and 24% in the US. Behind the scenes things are changing at an astonishing pace as AI becomes more powerful. Agentic agents are monitoring real-time balances and interest rates across accounts, automatically moving funds to higher-yield accounts before payments are due. This has a positive impact on a bank’s profitability from deposits, yet doesn’t even scratch the surface of how agentic agents will soon carry out the mundane tasks humans are pinned down by.
No one wants to walk into a bank and make a deposit. They don’t want to fill out a deposit slip and wait in line to speak to someone. They want to do everything online via digital agents. This trend will not reverse.
“AI agents can monitor transactions in real-time, learning from emerging fraud patterns to identify and act on suspicious activities”
Operational efficiency
Over time, agentic AI is expected to replace 60-70% of a typical work day. It will streamline repetitive tasks like data entry, compliance checks, and transaction processing, leading to increased productivity and reduced errors. This will lower labour costs and free up the employees to work with clients that need creative problem solving for complex issues.
Additionally, AI agents can automate entire processes like customer applications, data extraction, watchlist screening, risk scoring, and report filing, reducing onboarding times and enhancing compliance. This saves money, time, and potential threats to your reputation.
One powerful benefit AI can offer behind the scenes regards fraud detection and prevention. AI agents can monitor transactions in real-time, learning from emerging fraud patterns to identify and act on suspicious activities with greater precision than humans, autonomously freezing accounts or initiating alerts. Criminals always stay one step ahead of human oversight, but AI can counter this, allowing us to stay ahead of the bad actors.
Customer experience
Agentic agents can also be used as personal financial advisors, offering personalised investment recommendations, budgeting advice, and proactive financial coaching tailored to individual needs and market conditions. And because AI acts strictly on data, has no loyalty to particular companies, or commission incentives, they will be working in your best interests 24/7.
Plus, agents provide instant, conversational support 24/7, handling queries, account management, loan applications, and dispute resolutions, reducing reliance on call centres. Wait times can average as much as 5-15 minutes on the phone. Agentic agents can scale indefinitely eliminating hold time completely. This will boost customer satisfaction and retention rates.
Additionally, agentic agents can be deployed and personalised to be an individual’s assistant. These AI agents can provide white glove services tailored to a person 24/7, anticipating needs and recommending solutions they know the person would likely accept and benefit from.
Risk management
In 2024 there were 449,000 reports of credit card fraud. This is another area where agentic AI has a key role to play by enhancing risk assessments and dynamically responding to emerging threats and anomalies in real-time. Again, it keeps people one step ahead of cyber criminals and drives fraud levels down.
On the banking side, it improves loan underwriting by analysing a broader set of data points, potentially reducing bias and accelerating decisions. This keeps lenders from lending to individuals who are at risk for default, and helps borrowers from taking on more debt than they can handle. Additionally, multi-agent systems can simulate scenarios to help leaders stress-test portfolios, assess risks, and make decisions faster and with more confidence. This ability to test-drive investment strategies could potentially save incalculable losses and increase returns at an exponential pace.
In terms of compliance, agentic agents independently analyse complex data to understand evolving regulations continuously and take preventative actions to ensure an institution is always in compliance. These saves money, reputation, and peace of mind.
Challenges
You cannot just flick a switch and deploy agentic tomorrow, there are some road that must be navigated first. You have to work though regulatory requirements, ensure data quality, complete the endlessly time-consuming process of integration with legacy systems. You will also need to set up airtight cybersecurity, and work towards complete elimination of bias. Maintaining human oversight for critical decisions and addressing talent gap resolution through upskilling and recruiting will also be crucial. To truly understand these challenges and how to solve for them you must experience the technology first hand. As a leader, you will need to engage in upskilling programmes, and understand exactly what you need your team to learn. You will then understand in-depth the changes you want to see come to fruition.
The world of finance is in the midst of an evolution, emerging from the final vestiges of legacy systems and processes to an age where AI is unleashed to drive wealth and convenience for both lenders and borrowers simultaneously. Knowing where, when, and how AI can be best deployed is critical to the success of your institution. Start now, and start small while being deliberate and strategic. This will set you on the path towards fully utilising the technology and achieving maximum benefits for you and your customers.
About the author
Martijn Gribnau is Chief Customer Success Officer
of Quant, which develops cutting-edge digital employee technology.