The Buzz

This week, Bank Automation News explored why banks lag behind other industries when it comes to automation, and also discussed rising losses due to digital payments fraud.  

One of the challenges with AI in financial services is explaining AI’s “black box,” which refers to the fact even developers are unable to provide visibility into an algorithm trained with machine learning (ML). This is one reason AI can include bias and run afoul of regulators.   Explainable AI could change that, said Stuart Tarmy, global director of financial services industry solutions at Aeros...

Bank Automation News this week looked at the maturation of digitization and automation trends while also exploring how low-code tools might be leveraged by financial institutions going forward. While robotic process automation (RPA) is having a moment in the sun, as seen by RPA vendor UiPath’s debut on public bourses this week, low-code tools and open-banking continue to gain traction.

In this podcast, LexisNexis Risk Solutions VP shares how banks can fight emerging cyber threats  Automated bot cyberattacks are on the rise, while human-initiated attacks are down.  Bot attacks increased by about 100 million last year, Kimberly Sutherland, vice president of fraud and identity strategy for data analytics company LexisNexis Risk Solutions, tells Bank Automation News in this episode...

This week, Bank Automation News drilled down on filings with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, examining what banks and vendors have said about the potential for new regulations on artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies. Both banks and vendors agreed that more clarification on regulations is necessary to adoption, particularly for small banks that might be looking to...

Temenos President Jacqueline White shares lessons learned from digital banks  Legacy systems are holding banks back, but AI can help   Consumers are looking for a frictionless customer service experience, but legacy systems may be getting in the way. 

Automating end-to-end process can be a big bite to chew off. This week, Bank Automation News explored best practice conversations with leaders at Wells Fargo and Ally, who think of automation in smaller pieces — individual building blocks, like Legos, that when put together can create something larger and more significant. 

 In this podcast, Signavio SVP Alex Day identifies four key steps banks should take when it comes to processes, automation and process mining . 

This week, Bank Automation News digs into how APIs support integration and strategic automation on the heels of UiPath’s announcement of its $40.5 million acquisition of API vendor Cloud Elements. Also this week, the BAN team discussed security challenges at credit unions and the sharp increase expected in regulation technology spending , which is predicted to exceed $130 billion by 2025. 

 Automation is moving up from the back office to the front office, where banks are increasingly using automation to sell and interact with customers. The challenge will be to ensure those encounters feel personal, says David Foss, chief executive of financial services at core provider Jack Henry, in this episode of The Buzz podcast. 

This week, Bank Automation News explored the state of automation in mortgage lending and the three stages of intelligent automation, which combines robot process automation (RPA) with artificial intelligence (AI). 

Legacy systems are one of the financial industry’s top three barriers to automation. That’s why digital banks, which are unencumbered by legacy applications, are often able to do what larger banks can’t — and at a faster pace. In this podcast, Charlie Newark French, chief operating officer for the automation fintech Hyperscience, discusses with Bank Automation News the three main barriers that ban...

This week, Bank Automation News saw a flurry of funding rounds for automation-related fintechs, including a $220 million Series F round for the intelligent automation company WorkFusion. The New York-based WorkFusion uses artificial intelligence (AI) and robots to automate document-heavy processes in highly regulated industries. The company plans to use the funds to explore further into cloud-base...

Corporate banks will strive to become “platform players” in the next four years, a shift that will fundamentally driven by automation.  A platform player is a bank that offers a full ecosystem of third-party products and services to clients, one of three paths most commercial banks will pursue, according to Tim Tyler, a senior principal in solutions consulting with financial software provider Fina...

This week, Bank Automation News explored the intersection of automation and artificial intelligence, diving into the opportunities and challenges they present. BAN spoke with Bank of America’s newly appointed head of digital to discuss the calculus behind prioritization and how AI and automation, in the form of virtual assistant Erica, are driving customer engagement. 

In this podcast, David McLaughlin, CEO and founder of anti-fraud vendor QuantaVerse, discusses the conflicts chief risk and compliance officers face daily, how to automate fraud investigation, and whether automation helps or hinders the fight against fraud and money-laundering. 

This week Bank Automation News took an inside look at automation strategy at the $1.96 trillion Wells Fargo, which has thousands of attended bots and hundreds of unattended bots that save the bank millions of hours on an annual basis.  

This week Bank Automation News explored the biggest risk and security threats in banking, and how some financial institutions are leveraging automated technology to strengthen risk management programs. 

The most common mistake banks make is using technology without auditing or understanding it, according to Andrew Stines, chief risk officer at the $1.77 billion Coastal Community Bank in Everett, Wash.  In this podcast, Stines, the former chief risk officer at Sunwest Bank, where he rebuilt the bank’s regulatory program, as well as an attorney, explains how banks can find themselves in trouble wit...

Anti-money laundering and fraud solution provider Nice Actimize announced a new artificial intelligence-driven tool Thursday that it claims will reduce false positives when conducting anti-money laundering (AML) screening on potential customers.  

This week, Bank Automation News unveils its newest cohort of startups that bring global talent and ideas to Fintech Discovery, the publication’s marketing accelerator, along with an overview of the cohort’s five companies and the value proposition they bring to the financial services sector. This week BAN also spoke with Jason Park, president of U.S. Bank Housing Capital Company, about the new aut...

When COVID-19 hit, Sunrise Banks shifted to a remote environment within 48 hours and it quickly became clear that manual processes weren’t going to work anymore, said Sunrise CIO Brett Cooksey.  Cooksey came to the $1.2 billion Minneapolis, Minn.-based bank from C.H. Robinson, the supply chain management and logistics solution provider, which has a culture that is 80% to 90% digital, he said. At S...

This week Bank Automation News delved into the growing trend of leveraging AI-based tools to strengthen personal financial management. RBC outlined development plans for its virtual assistant NOMI, and CIBC partnered with MX to proactively and automatically offer customers tailored recommendations based on analyses of financial and transactional data. Meanwhile, BAN spoke with Sunrise Banks CIO Br...

Attended automation and digital assistants for employees are among the hottest robotic process automation (RPA) trends for the next few years. Bank Automation News recently interviewed Automation Anywhere experts Ken Mertzel, global industry leader of financial services, and Catherine Calarco, senior director and head of global go-to-market, about the use cases they’re seeing and their predictions...

This week, Bank Automation News explored Wells Fargo’s goal to stand up at least 300 automations in the next few years as it looks to expand its robotic processing automation (RPA) team. After making headlines for losing a $5.3 billion deal for acquisition by Visa, data aggregator Plaid unveiled a new beta product this week called “Deposit Switch,” which automates bank direct deposit funding and a...