Cognitive banking – building the bank of the future

Cognitive banking is potentially the most significant change in banking since the invention of money. So what is it? In simple terms, it harnesses the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform how bank services are manufactured, delivered and managed, opening the door to new and more profitable opportunities beyond the current banking landscape.

Cognitive technologies – such as machine learning, deep learning and natural language processing – allow a bank to go deeper and beyond the traditional boundaries of banking and heralds a new era of customer experience. Banks can harness the power of data and advanced analytics to make decision-making more accessible and quicker for them and their customers. Moving to evidence-based decisions rather than relying on intuition and historical data offers a step-change improvement in the customer experience, boosts bank efficiency and enables more effective risk management.

Furthermore, cognitive technologies mean that the customer communications channel is always open, so products and services can be continually updated and refined to meet exact customer needs. This new model stands in stark contrast with traditional bank processing models based on preconfigured rules and parameters – and this is the reason why we believe in the game-changing potential of cognitive banking.

In a cognitive bank, computers don’t just process: they learn. Every customer interaction, systems’ logs and business decisions represent a learning opportunity, and a bank can respond accordingly.

My latest Point of View explores the nature and scope of cognitive banking. This paper is the product of fruitful conversations with financial services executives around the globe.  If like me, you believe that the potential benefits of cognitive banking are only limited by our imagination, I encourage you to read it to gain further insights into this very fascinating topic.