AI Articles and Analysis in Finance

Until recently, research has shown that banking companies have been somewhat hesitant regarding the business value of AI. A proliferation of external evidence indicates that the trend is quickly changing. According to a recent report by The Economist, 85% of IT executives in banking said they “had a clear strategy” for AI adoption in 2022. 

AI is coming to banking and picking up speed. In a 2020 survey conducted by PwC Research, banks cited increased productivity and efficiencies, just ahead of revenue growth, as their top goal for their AI initiatives. 

Following nearly a decade of rampant cybersecurity events and subsequent negative press, successful AI use cases in fraud detection and data security are catching the collective eyes of investors and boardrooms across fintech. There are signals that demand for cyber security solutions might be currently peaking as the FBI recently reported an increase in online security complaints of only slightly over 300,000 from 2019 to 2020. 

U.S. Bank is the fifth largest bank in the United States by total assets. Traded on the NYSE (symbol: USB), the company has a market capitalization of approximately $67 billion. In its 2021 annual report, U.S. bank reported a net income of $8 billion on $22.8 billion in revenue. In the same report, the CEO cites nearly 70,000 employees.

As AI automation (aka, “intelligent automation,” or IA) in financial services quickly becomes mainstream, it attracts increased stakeholder interest as firms explore the possibility of unlocking value via increased efficiency, cost reduction, and enhanced predictive capabilities.

DocuSign is an American company that provides digitized document management services. The company’s target market are companies who need help managing electronic business agreements.

The company that would become PayPal Holdings first entered the electronic payments space in 1999, a year after being founded as Confinity. Confinity merged with Elon Musk’s x.com in 2000 and was renamed PayPal the following year. The company went public in 2002 shortly before its acquisition by eBay, through which it became “the site’s official payments provider.” eBay spun off PayPal as an independent company in 2015.

American Express began as a freight forwarding company in the mid-19th century. Expanding over time to include financial products and travel services, American Express today reports some 114 million cards in force and $1.2 trillion in billed business worldwide.