Banks told to have AI assistant in place to bridge gap with customers

Dubai - Banks are adopting different approaches for fintech.

Banks need to have the artificial intelligence (AI) driven chatbox or assistant in place to bridge the gap with the customers, said Maisa Al Shunnar, group chief digital transformation at National Bank of Bahrain.

“By 2024, about each one of us will have an AI digital assistant to help. To get closer to customers, banks need to have the AI-backed chatbox or an AI assistant to bridge the gap,” she said adding that it will take time for the people to start speaking the same language that is spoken by AI. “If we understand this digital language better, there will be more trust in the bank and its products among customers. The big data and AI are the highlights of the future banking.”

While speaking at the Digibank 2021 conference in Dubai on Tuesday, she pointed out that financial institutions have to respond quickly and listen attentively to their customers.

She also advised that the value and importance of fintech should also not be underestimated.

She added that data strategy is extremely important.

“It is important how to integrate and manage data. We have to be able to answer questions like how we are managing the data and what we are doing with it, do we have an enterprise-wide dashboard, do we advocate solving problems according to analytics and decisions based on a scientific approach. We need to develop our talent that is good for the next era,” she added.

She stated that different banks are adopting different approaches for fintech.

“There is a lot of interaction and collaboration between banks and fintech. We have seen different strategies taken by different banks with regard to fintech. Some of the banks acquire them while others invest in fintech.”

— waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com