The Malaysian banking sector is experiencing a surge in support from the government as it embraces artificial intelligence (AI) to transform the industry. This strategic push is designed to facilitate the adoption and scaling of AI technologies across financial institutions.
Lee Li Foon, Chief Information Officer at Bank Simpanan Nasional, highlighted the early stages of AI integration within the sector. She emphasized the importance of collaboration between the industry and government, underscoring the role of the National Artificial Intelligence Roadmap (AI Roadmap) in guiding this transition. “Our government is leading the charge with the AI Roadmap, which offers a pivotal opportunity to refine our AI guidelines. It will help us identify what is effective, what may be problematic, and distinguish between accurate data and misinformation,” Lee explained in an interview with Bernama during the IBM Think 2024 conference held from August 14-15.
The conference, themed “Scaling AI for Business to Accelerate Innovation and Productivity,” explored AI’s potential to drive economic growth in ASEAN. Shahariz Abdul Aziz, Director of Digital Transformation at Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd, also addressed the challenges faced by the financial services industry, particularly concerning data accuracy.
“Data integrity is crucial in our field due to the direct impact on customer interactions,” Shahariz noted. He identified the back office as a key area for AI application, emphasizing its potential to enhance efficiency and automation. “AI can significantly streamline administrative tasks and improve the effectiveness of sales staff by providing them with comprehensive knowledge for better customer engagement,” he added.
Shahariz further elaborated on Bank Islam’s current focus, which involves leveraging AI to aggregate and analyze information for the corporate division. Historically, preparing credit proposals involved extensive data collection and presentation, a process that could take up to a month. “By utilizing AI, we can now compile and verify information more rapidly, cutting down the preparation time from several weeks to just a few hours. This advancement will enable us to operate more efficiently and handle a higher volume of work,” he concluded.
The strong governmental support and strategic AI implementation are set to accelerate innovation and productivity within Malaysia’s banking sector, marking a significant step forward in the industry’s technological evolution.
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