Accenture's Bodack said on average, banks expect double-digit gains by deploying and scaling generative AI. — Reuters
PETALING JAYA: Banks across the Asia-Pacific (Apac) region are taking investments into artificial intelligence (AI) seriously, and viewing it as a key value driver for revenue growth.
According to “the front-runners’ guide to scaling AI” with a focus on Apac’s banking sector by Accenture, a US$3bil investment over three years has been highlighted with the aim of advancing AI.
Accenture Apac banking and capital markets managing director and lead Nicole Bodack said on average, banks expect double-digit gains by deploying and scaling generative AI.
Bodack said initially, the main elements surrounding AI dealt with costs and productivity, but that had shifted.
“It is increasingly seen as a driver for revenue growth.
“As banks across Asia continue to navigate pressures, such as falling interest rates, they have rising credit risk and global uncertainties and are exploring every avenue of growth,” she said during Accenture’s AI-led reinvention of banking in Apac via an online media briefing yesterday.
She added that there had been regional banks that successfully leveraged data and AI to create personalised experiences for customers that drove engagement, thus creating higher revenue growth.
Despite all its pros, the topic of how much trust to put into AI as a safeguard had been raised.
Accenture Apac data and AI senior managing director and lead Vivek Luthra said this could only be done if foundations are set up properly.
He gave examples of diving into risk frameworks and discovering if capabilities to validate solutions before deploying them are some of the ways banks could look into as safety buffers.
Additionally, Vivek noted that 70% of global banks believe AI is moving faster than their ability to prepare the workforce.
Rather than focus on AI solutions, he said banks need to be workforce-ready first.
“We think about how we reinvent work, then we start to define what jobs in the future look like.
“For easch of those job roles, we start to develop specific learning curriculums and accelerate learning around the specific personas,” he said.
Meanwhile, Accenture Apac Banking managing director Navin Suri said the immediate priority for banks is to modernise their legacy core systems towards the new digital core.
