Beyond blockchain and IoT, enterprises are investing heavily into two significant areas of innovation: AI and quantum computing. Both have a huge potential to impact the financial world.

Artificial Intelligence

According to MarketandMarket’s report, AI in the fintech market will grow to US$7305.6 million by 2022. It ranges from complicated rules-based engines, such as robo-advisors and online banking chatbots to AI that enables funds to occupy a vast amount of data to make accurate predictions about financial markets.

Driving Customer Centricity

AI helps organizations of different scales to improve their overall customer experience and create compelling and well-connected customer journeys. For example, when the customer enters a bank branch, its AI-based facial recognition system identifies the inpidual easily and reveals information about them, such as their transaction history or spending patterns. Based on this information, the bank can offer or recommend customized services to that customer.

AI Adoption in Wealth Management

Wealth management companies were one of the early adopters of AI. They transform and digitize customer experiences using various AI techniques. According to Capgemini, robo-advisors are quickly gaining traction and may control assets amounting to $2.5 trillion by 2021.

Besides, multiple applications will take advantage of machine learning and neural networks to analyze human patterns and enable companies to offer deep personalization. AI will also help companies manage conversations through virtual chatbots and enable wealth managers to obtain real-time portfolio insights, investment decision signals, and changing trends.

Investment companies are also using predictive analytics to create investment ideas and forecast risks. Such AI-enabled financial analytics surpass conventional analysis by providing exclusive insights. JP Morgan developed a data analytics platform, SPARTA that enhances customer experience through its uncommon use of R-language for risk and performance calculations.

AI-powered Chatbots in Banking Industry

Customer service is critical in the banking and financial sector. Banks typically receive a high volume of incoming questions. Chatbots effectively help resolve such queries and improve customer experience via seamless 24/7 communication. Chatbots also help answer personal banking questions related to accounts. Some leading banks have deployed intranet-based chatbots that generate effective internal communication between employees.

• Leveraging AI-powered chatbots offers multiple benefits for the financial sector, especially banks:

• A consistent tone of messages blended with human intelligence to improve brand positioning

• Automated answers to repeated questions to reduce manual labor costs

• Swift response management during peak hours to improve instant gratification

• Algorithm-based recommendations for savings and investments

• Easy integration of website, application, and other digital products

Many businesses have developed tasks with existing virtual assistants (VAs), enabling their customers to streamline their activities. Capital One, a U.S.-based financial corporation, allows customers to access their bank accounts using Alexa.

Quantum Computing

Followed by AI, quantum computing uses the quantum mechanical phenomenon, or “superpositions,” to solve several computational and algorithm-based problems faster than conventional binary computers. The technology has implications on almost everything - from fraud detection to high-frequency trading, payments, and cybersecurity.

However, quantum computing can supercharge AI to upgrade effectiveness. For instance, quantum computing helps AI calculate and analyze data involving several variables. Quantum computing can perform quickly because it can store much more information in the form of “qubits,” and not merely 1s and 0s.

Many financial organizations are experimenting different ways to use quantum computing. For example, Digital Annealer, Fujitsu’s practical computer based on quantum logic, solves large-scale combinatorial optimization problems.

Areas where financial organizations reap the benefits of quantum computing:

(a) Portfolio Optimization

It becomes very difficult for traditional computers to optimize portfolios, suggest investment decisions to balance risk, and develop recommendations that yield maximum returns. Quantum computing effectively addresses these issues. Quantum computing determines the attractiveness of a portfolio, fixes trading rates using algorithms, and determines the optimal arbitrage opportunity.

(b) Secure Communication

Key distribution systems secure communications. For example, in Swiss elections, the code generated by quantum computing protected the integrity of voting machines.

(c) Marketing and Distribution

Tailored data-driven systems collect several attributes and represent them in the form of a graph. Subsequently, a quantum computer handles further refinements of the graph and contributes to decisions related to customer-product mapping.