AI and the Future of Banking

CHAPTER 2Imperatives in Banking

SUMMARY

This chapter will consider the issue of strategic objectives and business imperatives. To fully understand the impact of AI on banking, it's important to consider the issue of what are called ‘imperatives’. In defining what is meant by the term, current banking imperatives will be reviewed, as well as what might be the banking imperatives of the future, recognising the likely changing needs and expectations of future customers.

With customers increasingly judging their banking provider not against other banks but against the digital response of other industries, this chapter will also consider what are the ‘business imperatives’ of other sectors, typically in retail, telecoms and healthcare. It points to an increasing convergence of imperatives that are partly unique to the particular industries mentioned but also relatively generic to the customer experience. Whilst it does not look specifically at convergence of the uses of AI in other industries (for example, those of healthcare and wealth management), it provides a reminder that practitioners should be prepared to look outside their own industry for additional insights.

It argues that traditional thinking about imperatives is increasingly under threat by disruptive forces, especially digitalisation and ‘reinvention’ of the banking industry, yet at the same time there are still some underlying consistencies of approach.

INTRODUCTION

Established management principles refer to the ...