BNY Mellon advances artificial intelligence tech across operations

NEW YORK The Bank of New York Mellon Corp (BK.N) has developed and deployed automated computer programs, or more than 220 "bots", across its businesses over the past 15 months seeking more efficiency and lower costs, as the adoption of artificial intelligence technology in banking increases. The 233-year-old custodian bank says its new army of robotics, or software created to carry out an often repetitive task that would normally be performed by humans, range from automated programs that respond to data requests from external auditors, to systems that correct formatting and data mistakes in requests for dollar funds transfers. BNY Mellon said 20 bots have been placed in production since the start of the year. The robotics push comes as the banking sector ramps up the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation to save money and time on cumbersome and manual processes, ranging from back office tasks to customer service. The bank estimates that its funds transfer bots alone are saving it $300,000 annually, by cutting down the time its employees need to spend on identifying and dealing with data mistakes and accelerating payments processing.