RESEARCH REPORT
Banking in the age of generative AI
5-minute read
February 28, 2024
RESEARCH REPORT
5-minute read
February 28, 2024
When ChatGPT launched to the public in late 2022, many wondered if generative AI was a fad or a genuinely transformative phenomenon. One year later, banking has moved from the question of whether the technology will change banking to where we should start and what the ultimate impact will be.
Generative AI is not going to rewrite the fundamental business of banking. But it is going to change how that business gets done.
22% - 30%
potential productivity improvement for early adopters over the next three years, according to our latest financial projections
600 bps
rise in revenue growth
300 bps
increase in return on equity
Accenture’s analysis of the potential use of the technology across different banking roles suggests this is only the beginning.
We concluded that 73% of the time spent by US bank employees has a high potential to be impacted by generative AI—39% by automation and 34% by augmentation. Its potential reaches virtually every part of a bank, from the C-suite to the front lines of service and in every part of the value chain. But the impact will not be uniform.
Most generative AI use cases for both augmenting and automating work in banking fall into one of three categories:
The pervasive reach of generative AI means it won’t exclusively or even primarily be a cost-saving technology, in banking its most important contribution will be to drive growth.
The challenge is to balance reinvention with the ongoing operation of the bank, maximizing the opportunities while limiting the disruption. To accomplish this will require not only execution excellence but also a culture of innovation, a core value of which will be curiosity.
Few technologies have moved from theoretical potential to game-changing impact as quickly as generative AI. In two months, for example, ChatGPT hit 100 million active monthly users. It took Facebook about 4.5 years to reach that mark. The technology is already changing work every day for most employees at most banks.
Unlike the digital revolution or the advent of the smartphone, banks won’t be able to cordon off generative AI’s impact on their organization in the early days of change. It touches almost every job in banking—which means that now is the time to use this powerful new tool to build new performance frontiers.