AI Will Transform Financial Services Industry within Two Years, Survey Finds

Selling AI-based solutions as a service is becoming a distinct business model, currently adopted by 45% of fintechs and 21% of incumbents, which allows firms to capitalize on larger and more diverse datasets through digital platforms. Novel insights are increasingly provided by using AI to analyse new or alternative datasets such as social media and geo-location data, with 60% of respondents making use of such data in their AI applications. Data quality and access to data and talent are seen as major obstacles to implementing AI by more than 80% of respondents each. Traditional financial services firms expect AI a 9% net reduction of jobs by 2030 while fintechs expect to increase their workforce by 19%. While views of regulatory influence on AI implementation diverge, most firms feel impeded by data-sharing regulations between jurisdictions and entities as well as regulatory uncertainty and complexity.