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The roles of artificial intelligence and fintechs in the financial sector were under debate on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum when the leaders of the banking industry discussed the changing future of banks.
Artificial intelligence could potentially cause job cuts in banking services, according to the director general of Standard Charterd Bank Group, Bill Winters, but employees can also adapt to the use of AI tools to improve the effectiveness of their work.
“The advent of AI, as well as all the automation tools that we develop, will move particular roles,” said Winters during a panel on AI and Fintech innovation by the World Economic Forum to Davos, in Switzerland this week. “We are all completely determined to repeat the people who participate in these roles insofar as they want to be re-qualified, and most do it … Some people will be dislocated and there will be anxieties along the way , but I think the employees will be huge net winners thanks to this. “
But Mary Callahan Erdoes, CEO of JP Morgan Asset and Wealth Management, argued that AI could be used to grow and keep the current workforce.
“Most of the CEOs and companies I see here, and in particular on the panel, are in growth mode,” said Erdoes. “We can keep who we have. We can reinvest in them, and if they leave with us during this very exciting period for the world, they will all be winners at the end and that customers, the end user, will have a much more powerful experience.
Erdoes said that AI is already changing work in its bank.
“We already have 200,000 employees as active AI users daily inside JP Morgan,” said Erdoes. “What I cannot show you are the savings that are created by removing the work without Joy. You eliminate this first, then you spend the customer, giving them more information, protecting them Better still, by recognizing the models that the human Eye cannot see, being able to stay ahead of the bad guys and help all the CEOs that I see in this audience to help win and move faster.
The debate was part of a discussion on how various forces, including collaboration and Fintech competition and competition, change industry. The anchor of Bloomberg Joumanna Berchette moderated the panel.
The president and chief executive officer of Bny Robin Vince spoke of the use of AI to help employees do their job.
“We are a knowledge work industry, and AI is really an intelligence machine that will ultimately create a leverage for humans where we will have agents – digital employees, as we now think in our company – Who will work as part of the workforce performing tasks, creating capacities, helping us to advance faster than otherwise we would do it, “he said.
Vince also talked about the importance of working with fintechs which are sometimes competitors.
“It is a place where there are new technologies, new capacities, and they are infused in the financial system,” said Vince. “It’s good. We have been there for over 240 years, and we are still innovating. This is how you become old, being an innovator in progress. We associate with new companies that arrive and also learn to them. “
For example, many digital asset companies operate on payment rails built by BNY. “We provide platforms around payments, around guarantees, around the guard, around transmitter services, and many of them use these rails in the context,” said Vince.
For banks, the partnership with Fintechs is a balance between adaptation to consumer behavior changes and the guarantee of appropriate cybersecurity measures, according to Sheikh Bandar Bin Mohammed Bin Saoud Al-Tohani, governor of the Central Bank of Qatar.
“Nowadays, there is increased competition in the financial sector of non-traditional financial institutions such as fintech, privacy, credit and telecommunications,” said Al-Thani. “Competition increases, which exerts pressure on banks. But I think that by investing in innovation, implementing technology and investing in digital transformation, which will help banks to develop and compete In this area.
Erdoes highlighted the importance of banks that continue to innovate and adapt to the changing needs of modern consumers.
“The reason why banks exist is simply to facilitate the growth of the global economy,” said Erdoes, “and we are here to serve our customers. Our customers must go with this economy that we have today in the world.