Generative AI utilization is a table stake for financial services industry leaders looking to improve customer experience, internal processes and risk management.

According to a Dec. 11 report by consulting giant EY, 99% of financial services industry leaders have deployed AI and are planning to use the tech across their operations. EY surveyed 300 executives of financial services companies with revenues of over $2 billion for he survey, which found:

• 87% of executives say gen AI can improve customer experience; 
• 83% are optimistic about the benefits of gen AI to the financial service industry over the next five to 10 years; and 
• 77% view gen AI as an overall benefit to the financial services industry. 

Passaic, N.J.-based Valley Bank is exploring use cases for gen AI that “will directly enable better customer experiences [like] in the contact center or branches,” Chief Data and Analytics Officer Sanjay Sidhwani told Bank Automation News. 

The $61 billion Valley Bank joins major financial institutions like Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, ING, JPMorgan and NatWest , which are all using AI and exploring gen AI within their operations. 

AI at Valley Bank 

Valley Bank uses AI for risk management and marketing purposes, Sidhwani said. The bank is also exploring AI for: 

• Document summarization; 
• Intelligent-HR for associates; and 
• Internal chatbot capabilities. 

But some banks remain skeptical. The EY report details the following concerns that must be addressed ahead of implementation: 

• 40% of respondents say their institutions lack proper data infrastructure; 
• 36% lack clear commitment from leadership; 
• 35% say tech infrastructure is lacking; and 
• 33% worry about governance. 

Eighty-six percent of respondents, however, say the benefits of gen AI outweigh the risks. 

“Despite the buzz, most banks are still actively experimenting, and very few institutions have gen AI use cases in production,” David Kadio-Morokro, EY Americas financial services innovation leader, told BAN. “We expect that trend to reverse in 2024, when most large institutions will take their experiments out of the lab.” 

Gen AI will be rolled out to achieve two major goals at FIs: operational efficiency and augmented intelligence where it assists human experts by providing insights, Morokro said. 

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