Why Some Financial Firms Are Wary of AI

Leaders saw a particular opportunity in customer and client experience, with 87% saying they believe that AI can bring improvements to this space.

Financial services leaders face hurdles in taking advantage of and deploying GenAI, according to the survey. Asked about the challenges that financial organizations will encounter, they listed these barriers:

Lack of proper data infrastructure: 40%
Lack of clear commitment from leadership: 36%
Lack of technology infrastructure: 35%
Unclear governance and ethical framework: 33%

“Generative AI holds the potential to revolutionize a broad array of business functions,” Sameer Gupta, leader of EY Americas’ financial services organization advanced analytics, said in the statement. “With each new wave of AI and analytic innovation, it becomes increasingly clear how important it is to have a tech stack with a solid foundation.”

EY Americas said that if organizations truly want to take advantage of AI’s benefits, they must better understand and improve their data infrastructure. The survey reflects this, with leaders citing the following ways that AI will benefit the industry:

Risk reduction from data processing: 46%
Creation of new offerings and hyper-personalized marketing: 38%
Improved data management process and accuracy: 37%

“Focusing on the human role of AI implementation is just as important as technology infrastructure,” Michael Fox, EY Americas’ financial services accounts managing partner, said in the statement.

“Our data showed that 44% of leaders cited access to skilled resources as a barrier to AI implementation, but there’s only so many already skilled professionals in existence,” Fox added.

Plus, firms that “act now with investments in training, talent and infrastructure development … will reap the benefits that AI offers their industry … and will likely find themselves to be a step ahead of their peers,” he explained.