AI and the Future of Banking

CHAPTER 1Prologue: Why Banking?

SUMMARY

This section will look briefly at:

1. What is meant by the concept of money especially in the digital world
2. What is banking in a digital environment
3. The breadth of the banking industry, and the key functions within banks such as HR and operations
4. Some of the present and future roles in an analytically and AI-infused banking world

It's not intended to be a comprehensive guide but rather to help set the scene in terms of the breadth and width of the banking industry, and how the elements of advanced analytics and AI form part of a concept that will be described as the ‘Bank of the Future’.

Technology Is Changing the Way We Manage Our Money

The popularity of convenient webchat services like Twitter is making banks invest in similarly fast capabilities as customers embrace online support. Britons (as well as many others around the world) are increasingly turning to their smartphones; 22 million were using a banking app in 2017, up from 19.6 million in 2016. There were over 5.5 billion log-ins to banking apps in 2017, an increase of 13% on 2016. Stephen Jones, Chief Executive, UK Finance, said: ‘Over the next few years Open Banking and artificial intelligence will change the relationship we have, not only with our banks but also how we fundamentally access and utilise financial products and services’.¹

Beyond this, the chapter considers some of the present key functions in banking and speculates on what might comprise ‘jobs of the future’ ...