DENVER — Financial institution executives will focus more on the impact of AI on the bottom line this year, Ned Carroll, head of data and automation at PNC Financial, said during the inaugural FinAi Banking Summit.
“I think this is the year when the rubber will hit the road in terms of people getting the economic value out of AI and the investments that they made over the past couple of years,” Carroll said March 3 during a fireside chat.
The change is already apparent, Carroll said, adding that in fourth-quarter earnings reports, chief executives and chief financial officers started focusing more on economic return in descriptive, quantitative ways.
“The big reason for that is the investor community has looked at the enormous amount of publicly disclosed investment – like hiring Ph.D.s, investment in patents – and how is that translating into operating efficiency,” Carroll said.
Despite massive investments in AI tools and infrastructure, the productivity levels of United States have not materially changed, he said.
“AI hasn’t quite had that measurable economic lift that I think everybody’s talking about,” Carroll said, adding that tech companies and banks at the forefront in deploying AI will try to quantify its impact to help investors understand where the dollars are going.
PNC’s AI strategy
Unlike many major FIs, PNC does not have an “innovation center,” Carroll said, adding that the bank relies “on innovation occurring at the edges.”
Carroll helps bank employees develop solutions that directly improve consumer experience rather than innovating for the sake of innovation, he said.
The bank also works with established fintechs to power innovation and invests in solutions with measurable returns.
The $563 billion bank expects to spend $700 million on AI in 2026, Chief Executive Bill Demchak said during the bank’s Q4 earnings call on Jan. 16.
Pittsburgh-based PNC is seeing high organic adoption of AI among its commercial bankers to review loan documents. It also is deploying the tech in its call centers to improve the customer experience, he said.
Other AI use cases at PNC include:
- Content generation;
- Fraud detection; and
- Cash flow forecasting.
Read more coverage from FinAi Banking Summit here.
