The Necessity of Artificial Intelligence in Banking: A Literature Review
The Necessity of Artificial Intelligence in Banking: A Literature Review
and provide exceptional value to clients by utilising AI The incorporation of AI in banking is not recent but
technology. results from years of research, testing, and
technological progress. The origins of AI in banking
This paper argues that AI is essential, not just a luxury, date back to the early 1950s when initial efforts were
for banks aiming to succeed in a progressively made to create computer programmes capable of doing
digitised and networked environment. Banks can activities that traditionally demanded human
address the changing demands of consumers and intelligence. AI technologies started becoming
stakeholders by utilising AI-powered solutions to popular in the banking industry in the late 20th century
personalise services, optimise operations, mitigate due to improved processing power, data storage, and
risks, and foster innovation. This article intends to algorithmic methodologies.
analyse AI applications in banking to provide insights
into AI's revolutionary potential and its crucial role in During the 1990s, the introduction of neural networks,
determining the future of banking. expert systems, and decision support systems led to the
first use of AI in the banking sector. Early AI systems
Problem Statement primarily focused on automating regular jobs like data
Despite the adoption of technology, the banking entry, transaction processing, and risk assessment.
industry still faces numerous challenges due to Although basic compared to current standards, these
increasing operational costs, information overload, systems established the groundwork for advanced AI
always-revolving customer expectations, applications developed in the following years.
cybersecurity threats, increasing regulatory demands
and competition from fintech startups and tech giants. AI technologies in banking expanded in the early 21st
These challenges highlight the need for innovative century due to the rapid increase in digital data, the
solutions, which certain aspects of AI can offer. emergence of machine learning algorithms, and the
introduction of cloud computing. Banks started using
Aim of the Paper AI algorithms to improve fraud detection, credit
The paper aims to outline the necessity of artificial rating, and customer service, signalling the beginning
intelligence in banking. This will be achieved by of a new era in banking technology. Banks
examining its effects on operational efficiency, increasingly depended on AI-driven solutions to
customer satisfaction, personalised product enhance operations, manage risks, and stimulate
development, fraud detection, and risk management. corporate growth as AI capabilities advanced.
Additionally, the paper will address the potential risks
and ethical guidelines that need to be followed when • Emergence of AI in Banking:
adopting AI in the banking industry. The past decade has witnessed a rapid acceleration in
the adoption of AI technologies across the banking
Research Questions sector, driven by several key factors:
To address the current problems, this paper will
answer the following key questions: a) The banking business has experienced a significant
i. What are the current use cases of AI in the banking increase in data due to the widespread use of digital
industry, and how are major banks around the channels, mobile devices, and IoT sensors. Banks
world leveraging this technology? are overwhelmed with extensive volumes of
ii. What are the potential benefits and risks associated structured and unstructured data, such as
with integrating AI into banking? transaction records, customer profiles, social
iii. What are the ethical considerations and regulation media activities, and market trends. AI
policies to consider with AI adoption in banking? technologies allow banks to utilise this data to
iv. What is the future outlook for AI in banking? obtain practical insights, recognise patterns, and
make decisions based on data analysis.
Evolution of Banking with AI:
• Historical Perspective b) Stringent regulations require banks to implement
strong risk management and compliance practices.
II. PRIMARY LITERATURE risk management processes and methods. Milojević &
Redzepagic (2021) also carefully outline
Potential Benefits of AI in Banking implementation strategies for banks in the adoption of
Many banks globally are tapping into the potential of AI, ML and Deep Learning (DL) in credit risk
AI and many researchers on this topic tend to focus on management. To summarize, banks with data storage
the available uses and untapped benefits. Citibank and technological capacities will benefit from
(Sinha & Davis, 2018) is one of the banks trying to get employing AI usage to simplify processes for better
ahead of the AI curve. They are evaluating AI-based UX, and predictive analytics for risk mitigation in
solutions that will detect abnormal transactions for fraud and bad loans and prescribe customized
organizations and solutions that will predict and solutions to their clients.
recommend navigations on their portal, based on
customers’ behaviours. J.P. Morgan Chase has been III. METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS
continuously researching the potential benefits of AI
in banking. The company’s research goals are to Risks Associated with the Use of AI
“establish ethically and good AI to predict economic W. Clement Stone says, “To every advantage, there is
systems, give their clients a perfect experience, enable a corresponding disadvantage.” Technology and AI
secure information sharing, eradicate financial crime, are not without their problems, but companies that
empower their employees, and agentize policy must adopt them have to consider many things while
compliance.” (J.P. Morgan Chase, n.d.). choosing to use them. The major types of risks
associated with the use of AI in any industry include
Best (2023a) tells us that Wells Fargo’s Enterprise ethical risks, security risks and workforce risks.
Open-Source Data Science Platform helps its
engineers lay the foundation for building innovative If choosing to build on existing technology, the
tools for its clients much more efficiently. Many technology team must put security checks and bias
processes in the banks take quite a long time. Wells checks in place. To beat bias, for example, Best
Fargo wants to make the average user experience (UX) (2023b) informs us that Wells Fargo engineers
seamless and less annoying by leveraging AI in continuously test the systems as well as have
account creation, card applications, and other urgent independent groups review the products at different
customer needs. The bank also wants to adopt AI into points. This method of continuous development and
its lending and fraud detection processes (Best, testing is one good characteristic of agile software
2023c). “The top three trends for AI in financial development which should be adopted for developing
markets are data intelligence, prediction (combining the best AI systems. Ghandour (2021) and Citigroup
data exploration and expert knowledge) and AI-based (2023) postulate some drawbacks to integrating AI
simulators (including constraint propagation)” says into banking that should be prioritized. They include
Dr. Eunika Mercier-Laurent in Ashta and Hermann consumer concerns, privacy violations and
(2023, p. 3). infringement, lack of creativity, authenticity of
information, absence of empathy due to machine
Kochhar et al. (2019) appraised existing literature for responses and job loss. Before implementing AI-based
probable AI applications in banking. In their paper, solutions, the banks would be better off surveying their
they expound that AI can be used to reduce operating customers to determine their concerns and if possible,
expenses, improve customer service, score provide adequate explanations of what the customers
creditworthiness, and detect credit card fraud. stand to gain, what the banks will do to prevent the
Umamaheswari et al. (2023) briefly state the use of AI fears from actualisation, and the ability to opt-out of
in sales, internal audit, asset management, hedge fund AI-based services to use alternate services (Best,
investment and management, performing efficient and 2023b).
accurate calculations, assessing employee
effectiveness, and detecting customer emotions. To avoid privacy violations, it may serve the banks
Milojević & Redzepagic (2021) focus on using AI in better if the AI systems are built in-house, from
credit risk management to help improve traditional scratch. This would help to prevent sharing data with
a third party. Job loss is a major concern of employees, to perform real-time data analysis (Krigsman, 2022).
as Ahmed (2022) and Ashta & Hermann (2021) state. In fraud detection, Tinkoff Bank uses EyeDES, an
However, Ashta & Hermann urge the bank to retain explainable AI for detecting anomalies. US Bank also
the employees whose jobs AI can easily perform better uses machine learning (ML), an area of AI for
and redirect the employees into high-level duties. detecting abnormal behaviours in customer patterns
Crosman (2018) says that while jobs being lost may be (Ryzhkova et al., 2020). Citibank has a solution called
unavoidable, properly deploying AI software will Citi® Smart Match, which uses AI and ML to read and
create opportunities. Human emotions, empathy and discern remittance information from various sources
analysis are still important and will be redirected to for extracting crucial information in a faster way for
duties where these are necessary. Client-facing their clients’ businesses (Sinha & Davis, 2018).
services need the human touch, and so they should not
be abandoned to AI alone. Ahmed (2022) also informs In their study, Fernández et al. (2023) highlight the
us about the risk of misinformation and bias in credit significant impact of AI on the banking industry, both
scoring. In the last 2 years, the misinformation and in the present and the future. They cite several
hallucination challenges have become worse due to the examples of how banks are leveraging AI to improve
use of AI image generators like Midjourney, DALL-E their services and operations. For instance, Standard
and WOMBO Dream increasing in popularity. These Chartered uses an AI-powered engine called Trade AI
generators can create images with useful commands engine, which identifies various documents from
passed to them, so they seem real. Avoiding the risk of unstructured data while Banco Satander’s Kairo helps
misinformation will need the implementation of its clients make informed decisions on investments by
quality assurance checks. This is a major concern analysing how economic events could impact them.
Wells Fargo takes into consideration in its Japanese bank Mizuho uses AI to maintain its systems.
development (Best, 2023b). Additionally, Barclays employs analytical and
generative AI to enhance security through voice
IV. CURRENT STATE OF RESEARCH recognition and also detect fraud and money
laundering in transactions (Barclays, 2024).
Current Use Cases
Erica, an AI-powered virtual financial assistant V. MY VIEWPOINT
created by Bank of America, achieved over 1.5 billion
interactions within just a year of deployment It is important to consider the impact AI brings and
(Aldridge, 2013). In Nigeria, several AI virtual will bring into the banking industry globally. The
assistants such as United Bank for Africa's Leo, Zenith benefits of integrating AI in banking outweigh the
Bank's ZiVA, Fidelity Bank's Ivy, First City risks as long as the banks take measures to combat
Monument Bank's Temi, Ecobank’s Rafiki and Access these challenges. To avoid becoming obsolete and
Bank's Tamada offer customers convenient self- gain a competitive advantage against tech giants and
service options (Phillips Consulting Limited, 2024). Fintechs, bank stakeholders should identify areas
Wells Fargo's virtual assistant, Fargo™, which is built where accurate and faster operational efficiency is
on Google's Dialogflow, helps customers get quick needed and consider AI integration in these areas.
answers to their queries (Best, 2023a). Improving legacy systems can be expensive; in this
case, banks should consider partnering or merging
Russian banks such as Rosbank, Yandex and Sberbank with startups that already have or can implement these
offer robot advisors to provide advisory services to solutions. The possibility of reducing operational
their customers. These advisors help clients open costs, improving customer experience, reducing
accounts, process transactions, and offer customised employee turnover, reducing security risks, and
investment advice based on their risk appetite, amount detecting fraud and abnormal behaviour with AI-based
of capital and preferred return rate (Ryzhkova et al., solutions is incomparable to any other technology.
2020). J.P. Morgan Chase has developed IndexGPT,
to offer personalized investment advice to its clients It is crucial to thoroughly research all risks associated
(Rai, 2023). For big-data analytics, Citibank uses AI with integrating AI before developing any solutions.