Artificial intelligence promises to change customer relationships with banks. As more customers bring devices such as Amazon's Alexa and Google Home into their residences, forward-looking banks can offer automated services to help users perform tasks such as requesting an address change or submitting an application for a credit card or personal loan. In a recent report on the projected impact of AI on the banking and finance industry, the World Economic Forum warns that small and midsize banks struggle to find their footing in this rapidly changing environment. Firms with fewer assets now lag behind larger investment firms when it comes to AI and digital transformation, according to the report, "The New Physics of Financial Services," which cites a survey by Digital Banking Report that found that 48 percent of banks with more than $50 billion in assets have already deployed an AI solution. That's compared to banks with $1 billion to $10 billion in assets, of which only to 7 percent have an AI solution.

Banking and financial services leaders see great opportunity to improve the bottom line thanks to artificial intelligence, particularly in the areas of process automation and fraud detection, according to a recent article for Forbes by AI developer Dmitry Matskevich. A July report from Capgemini's Digital Transformation Institute predicts the financial sector could add $512 billion to their global revenues by 2020, and increase costs savings by 10 to 25 percent, thanks to intelligent automation. "In 2017, financial firms quietly introduced a range of practical machines that think. Some banks added AI surveillance tools to thwart financial crime, while others deployed machine learning for tax planning," PwC reports. "Wealth managers can now offer automated investing advice across multiple channels, and many insurers now use automated underwriting tools in their daily decision-making."

At a time when financial industry analysts are seriously debating whether Amazon will get into banking, it's clear the banking market is in a state of flux when it comes to technology. Of course, mobile banking is nothing new, but it is now a "table stakes" experience, especially for younger bank customers, meaning it is a bare minimum all banks must now meet. If a bank does not have a solid mobile app, they are an also-ran, industry experts and analysts say. That way of thinking will soon apply to lots of new and emerging technologies, as banks strive to keep pace with the likes of Apple, which earlier this month introduced Apple Pay Cash, allowing customers to send and receive money via Apple Pay. "The big decision-makers are really leaning on the idea of, 'Mobile technology is taking over and there is a digital-first movement that is taking hold in the marketplace,'" says Chris George, senior vice president of client strategy at NYMBUS, a core banking modernization company.