Prageeth Sandakalum has joined Wells Fargo as executive director of product management, a position that sits at the intersection of product, commercial banking and AI.   

Most recently, he was vice president and principal product manager for digital, data and AI at U.S. Bank. At Wells, he will focus on building a supply chain finance platform within the commercial banking arm. 

Wells Fargo aims to leverage AI to assist underwriting processes and product discovery for clients, Sandakalum told FinAI News. He joined the $1.7 trillion bank on March 23, according to his LinkedIn post.

The bank is investing heavily in its commercial banking platform and plans to provide banking and other financing options to clients on a single platform, Sandakalum said. 

Wells’ AI hires 

From early talks with Wells, Sandakalum believes the bank is heavily focused on building AI tools and solutions to increase efficiency and customer experience, he said. 

The San Francisco-based bank has made the following AI appointments recently: 

• Faraz Shafiq as head of AI products and solutions, in February; and 

• Saul Van Beurden to lead AI efforts, in November; he also is co-chief executive of consumer banking and lending.  

The bank currently uses AI for: 

• Call centers, customer service and chatbots such as Fargo; 

• Software development; and 

• Back-end operations including documentation and compliance. 

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