How artificial intelligence is transforming the financial sector
Making predictions has always been part of the banking industry. Pricing loans has required an estimate of the risk of a borrower's default by evaluating possible losses, collateral, etc. That is why a deep knowledge and long experience on the part of the bankers was necessary.
Today, it would be difficult to identify a line of business
in a bank that does not have multiple predictive analytics needs . As the
enormous potential of predictive analytics and machine learning has grown , the
need for more data, better modeling capabilities, and the ability to turn data
into operational information has exploded.
With the advent of digital transformation, the subdivision
has undergone a radical change. All banks want to find new ways to capture and
organize data, so they need new tools and techniques to learn from their data
and incorporate their capabilities into products, services, customer
interactions, and operations.
Chatbots, mobile apps, robotic process automation, and
machine learning are some of the forms of artificial intelligence that are
gaining traction in the financial industry. In fact, AI is poised to bring the
banking industry a potential savings of $ 447 billion by 2023.
But how exactly are these technologies transforming the
industry?
1. Help with bank loans
One of the major challenges for bankers is providing credit
to the proper extent - to the borrower and for the correct tenure. A small
mistake can cause the loan agreement to go bad, resulting in big losses.
Until recently, banks determined an individual's
creditworthiness by checking their historical and current earnings, lifestyle
expenses, past payment history, etc. Pointless to say, it is a serious process
consisting of several reasonable steps and rigorous data compilation.
The use of artificial intelligence can help bankers and financial institutions to create predictive models of people's ability to generate income and ability to pay by analyzing data, thus accelerating credit decision making. It also allows you to identify the accounts that can generate good returns and those that have a high probability of becoming bad loans.
2. Instant personalized support and customer service
In today's digital age, customers expect banks to provide
customer support not just in the conventional way (in person), but through
digital means.
In this vein, chatbots and live chat software have become
the first point of contact for customers seeking customer support. Chatbots are
artificial intelligence programs that work according to pre-established rules.
The more advanced ones can be integrated with deep learning capabilities that
allow them to continually learn from conversations with customers. What are the
main advantages? They offer instant personalized support and convenience. In
addition, they are ideal for the financial sector, whether for customer service
or for sales.
3. Smart management of personal finances
Mobile apps and websites have become popular for personal
financial management. Using AI and machine learning, the goal is to compile and
analyze all of the user's financial information to organize finances.
Furthermore, with predefined logic and an ability to continually learn from
interactions, the system can easily automate operations such as transactions.
This will result in amplified productivity and reduced errors.
There are also tools that help users quantify their savings
and income based on their current spending patterns. Every day we get closer to
autonomous finance becoming a reality.
Within autonomous finance, AI-based chatbots help the
customer to sign up for a financial service, understand how it works, and even
get more details related to security.
4. Risk assessment
Banks and financial institutions are governed by applicable
legal regulations within their geographic area. Compliance with these
regulations becomes tedious when services are provided in a very large market
that spans multiple countries; accounting, risk assessment, ensuring compliance
when dealing with securities, insurance products, debt and similar financial
products.
With artificial intelligence, reliability in risk assessment
can be improved by introducing systematized frameworks that avoid manual
errors.
5. Financial fraud
The fight against financial crime, especially money
laundering and fraud, is increasingly challenging as criminals become more
sophisticated.
Fraud losses appear to be increasing every year, with some
estimates claiming worldwide fraud losses of up to $ 200 billion in 2017. And
despite the cost, there are still banks that are fighting fraud with outdated
systems.