Why banks in APAC feel they lag behind in AI adoption?

Published January 24, 2019   |   

91 percent of banks in the Asia Pacific (APAC) felt they lagged behind banks in the US and Europe when it comes to implementing artificial intelligence (AI) in their operations, according to FICO‘s latest survey.

The remaining 9 percent indicated that they were at least on par with the US and Europe counterparts, while not a single respondent felt they were ahead.

When asked about the biggest challenge in adopting AI and machine learning into existing bank operations, 42 percent indicated that it was the lack of available AI experts which poses the greatest barrier to introducing AI technology. The use of legacy systems (28 percent) came in second, followed by cost (16 percent).

“The shortage of talent continues to be an issue worldwide as the use of AI continues to grow quickly, said Dan McConaghy, president of FICO in the Asia Pacific.

The survey also found that more than half of APAC respondents see AI and machine learning as a means to help improve operational efficiency. Respondents ranked the areas that would receive the greatest benefit from the technology as credit decisions (68 percent), followed by fraud detection (45 percent) and then collections (35 percent).

FICO’s survey was conducted amongst 33 chief risk officers across the Asia Pacific at its CRO Forum.