May 23

None of the biggest banks in the United States have the same organizational arrangement for their AI efforts; seeing other approaches – and getting to know some of the top execs – could inspire your strategy.

Who are the top artificial intelligence-focused execs in the banking world, and how do your peers and competitors structure their AI efforts?  

The top US banks each have their own unique strategies for deploying AI throughout their orgs, according to Insider. Here’s a peek at how several firms are taking on this transformational technology: 

• JPMorgan divides its efforts between Manuela Veloso, head of AI research, and David Castillo, firmwide head of AI/ML technology. Veloso oversees big-picture research, while Castillo leads implementation across JPMorgan’s operations. Drew Cukor, the firm’s chief data officer, also manages AI/ML transformation and engagement across the firm.  
• All of Citigroup’s artificial intelligence efforts funnel through its AI center of excellence, run by Prag Sharma. Sharma reports into Nimrod Barak, head of Citi’s Innovation Labs. 

• Bank of America organizes its AI efforts along business lines, with chief experience officers from difference divisions, including consumer banking (Teron Douglas) and wealth management (Christian Kitchell), reporting into BofA’s chief digital and chief marketing officer, David Tyrie.  

For more details and the structures at other top banks, read Insider’s full feature here. 

Recent events have proven that social media should be integrated into banks’ risk-management programs, and that firms should deploy dedicated tools and proactive communication.

Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse – as well as subsequent failures and recent hearings – taught the industry an important lesson: The havoc that negative social media chatter can wreak on banks shouldn’t be taken lightly. 

Tweets questioning SVB’s financial health “prompted nervous customers to pull $1 million per second from their accounts,” according to Reuters, which reports that banking execs have spent the past several months looking for ways to amp up their emergency response and risk capabilities around social media. 

Here are three concrete steps banks should take to shore up their social media strategies: 

Dedicate resources to tools and the staff managing them: “There are so many social media monitoring tools today, but the use of those tools is often delegated to threadbare marketing teams or third-party vendors,” according to Jim Perry, senior strategist at Market Insights. Banks need to both fund tools and “dedicate more human resources to social media monitoring,” he added.  

Be proactive in resolving customer concerns and quashing misinformation: Banks should identify and communicate with their “influential community members” and proactively counter any misinformation, according to Consumer Bankers Association CEO Lindsey Johnson. Contact people directly who complain on social media and address their issues quickly.  

Educate customers through transparency: In addition to tackling communication from key people, spread facts and resources to all depositor bases via email, Twitter, and LinkedIn, Johnson added.   

You can read Reuters’ full report here. 

Quantum computing is still in its infancy and UBS’ experiences demonstrate how FinServs’ efforts may not lead to any real-world products. Still, the experimentation is worth it for the skills-building and research.  

UBS abandoned its efforts to use quantum computing for trading, because the technology didn’t provide any substantial advantage, its former chief data officer, Lee Fulmer, said at a recent conference.  

Quantum – an emerging computing paradigm that promises to perform calculations at blistering speeds – is still in its experimental phase. And those experiments don’t always work out, per Fulmer’s experiences.  

UBS was trying to use quantum computing to speed up the bank’s existing trading models in order to “give us a competitive advantage,” he said. “In investment banking you live and die by microseconds: The end result of all of that effort was that we found we weren’t getting a substantive uplift.”  

Fulmer left the firm in March, but his sobering perspective shows why early experimentation is crucial in shaping an overarching quantum strategy: Certain domains may never benefit from quantum computing, but it’s better to try and fail to find an advantage than to be left behind.  

 As Insights Distilled has previously reported, other FinServs are testing quantum in other areas of their businesses with varying results:  

Credit Agricole successfully completed two real-world experiments earlier this year that found it could achieve “faster valuations and more accurate risk assessments” using quantum techniques, while Banque de France is preparing to protect itself against encryption-breaking quantum tactics. Mastercard, meanwhile, is experimenting with ways to use quantum computing to improve its loyalty and rewards program, and HSBC, JPMorgan, and Ally have their own tests, too. 

17 Australian banks launched a new digital platform called the Fraud Reporting Exchange (FRX) that enables near real-time prevention tactics, which are particularly helpful for authorized push payment (APP) fraud, where victims get swindled into willingly sending money to bad actors under false pretenses.

It’s mateship in action: A group of banks including HSBC, ING, and Westpac are involved in a new effort in Australia to halt payments to scammers.  

The bank-funded Australian Financial Crimes Exchange launched a secure communication platform that provides near real-time fraud reporting, shared intelligence, and the ability to halt transactions for member banks.   

Previously, communication between banks would largely take place over phone calls and email. 

The FRX endeavors to stop fraud by allowing banks to better share information about potential bad actors and interrupt multiple transactions taking place as part of the same scam.  

This new platform is particularly crucial for mitigating APP fraud, where banks often deny culpability for refunds since victims authorize payments themselves. As consumer protection advocates turn up the heat on banks to provide reimbursements to victims of these scams, the platform aims to prevent people from losing money in the first place.

The FRX is a “world-leading initiative” and “means more and more scammers are going to hit a brick wall,” according to Australian Banking Association CEO Anna Bligh.  

In a trial of the platform, the time to resolve most scam cases dropped by more than half.  

In the United States, regulators have also ramped up pressure on banks to add protections and grant reimbursement for APP victims. Banks, in turn, have increased their customer education and have experimented with biometric technology. Australia’s new system models preliminarily effective another strategy. 

Truist’s new app has benefits for both itself and for consumers: It keeps a loyal audience logging in regularly while helping that group earn rewards and build savings. 

Truist’s innovation studio, Foundry, just released a mobile app called Long Game that rewards users for building healthy financial habits through prizes and education.  

“The ultimate goal is creating digital experiences that are fun and engaging, that make people love Truist and increase their financial wellness,” according to Linsday Holden, head of Foundry. The app’s trivia and savings challenges are targeted at people who are relatively early in their financial education journeys.

The game gives Truist, the 7^th largest bank in the US by total assets, a new way to keep its clients engaged at a time when digital banks are using higher interest rates to lure depositors.  

Ultimately, interactive financial literacy tools helps FinServs form stronger bonds with their clients, especially younger users whose loyalty they crave and who benefit the most from boosting their money knowledge. For example, Morgan Stanley is leaning on an education suite from fintech Greenlight while TD Bank has a virtual stock market game and a resource hub for kids called the Wow! Zone.