The advantages of the banking sector from artificial intelligence include seeking operational efficiency; means to detect and predict human behavior; and for lowering operational costs. This also signals further progress with the digital transformation of the Indian banking sector. For example, advent of mobile technologies and the end-users’ trust levels in relation to banks security has pushed some Indian banks to adopt technologies such as fingerprinting for customer safety and compliance.
This process of transformation has led PwC India’s leader banking and capital markets, Shinjini Kumar to state recently: “Many Indian banks, like their Asian counterparts, are geared to use the advantage of local talent and leapfrogging technology to create forward looking digital strategies. However, there is a lot of ground to cover on creating Omni-channel experience and enhancing processes from the customer’s point of view.”
State Bank of India (SBI), which is the India’s largest lender, has introduced SBI Intelligent Assistant (SIA). According to the Financial Express, this is a smart chat assistant designed to resolve queries of customers in a similar to that of a bank representative. The bot provides instant solutions on everyday banking queries.
The bank is also instituting an ‘Innovation Centre’, built to explore how emerging technologies such as Robotic Process Automation can assist with making internal banking processes more efficient. Another bank, Allahabad Bank, has also introduced an artificial intelligence powered chatbot called ’emPower’, equipped to make e-commerce payments.
In another example, state lender Bank of Baroda has established a hi-tech digital branch equipped with advanced technology, such as an artificial intelligence robot named Baroda Brainy and a Digital Lab with free Wi-Fi services. The video below shows the robot in action at the UP Investors Summit 2018:
Commentating on these innovations to Economic Times, Tobias Puehse, vice president, Innovation Management, Digital Payments and Labs, Asia Pacific, Mastercard stated: The Indian banking industry is on a rapid digital journey and has been adopting technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning which will reshape the future.”
