Fitch Ratings has deployed gen AI within its software maintenance and development, gaining significant efficiency in the process.

The global financial services ratings agency deployed Amazon Web Services’ Amazon Q last year to update its JavaScript written code, Aleks Hagy, head of ratings development, said during the AWS Financial Services Symposium in New York on May 15. 

The gen AI tool is helping “developers write initial code, accelerated documentation of the code and testing,” John Kain, head of financial services market development at AWS, told Bank Automation News, adding that even Amazon used its own gen AI tool to upgrade codes written in older java versions and saved thousands of human work hours.  

The company gained 40% efficiency after deploying AWS’ gen AI software development tool last year, Hagy said. Fitch predicted it would take multiple weeks of work across various teams to upgrade older code and was surprised by results and managed to do it within weeks, she said. 

The legacy Java code at Fitch needed to be updated to address security vulnerabilities, Hagy said, adding that the automated tools helped Fitch test the updated version of codes before deployment to avoid downtime and close any security loopholes that existed. 

The results have been “extraordinary,” and Fitch plans on deploying the tech on a wider scale to speed up its multi-year modernization strategy, Hagy said. 

The company did not disclose what version of Java it had been using and what it upgraded to, but according to AWS, Amazon Q can aid companies in upgrading to Java 21 from Java 8, 11 and 17. 

Rise in AI-driven coding 

Fitch is just one of the companies deploying AI tools to gain software development efficiencies, Kain told BAN. 

Global financial information and services giant S&P Global has also deployed the tools, Chief Technology Officer Frank Tarsillo said during the event, adding that nearly 7 million lines of code has been written by the gen AI tool since its debut in early 2024. 

Deloitte, FINRA, Ukraine-based Privat Bank and BlackBerry are some Amazon Q developer tool clients, according to AWS. 

Amazon Q can be integrated into entire organizations for data management, information findings and process optimization, among others, Kain said, adding that the tool can be customized to fit each organization’s needs and functions.