New NVIDIA survey highlights the latest AI trends applied to the financial sector

The financial services industry is reaching a major milestone with the use of artificial intelligence as organizations move beyond testing and experimentation to a successful implementation of AI, driving business results.The fifth annual report State of AI in Financial Services (State of AI in Financial Services), conducted by NVIDIA, shows how financial institutions have consolidated their AI efforts to focus on core applications, signaling a significant increase in AI capability and proficiency.

The report points out that companies investing in AI are getting tangible benefits, including increased revenues and cost savings. Nearly 70% of respondents report that AI has generated a revenue increase of 5% or more, with some reporting a revenue increase of 10 to 20%. Additionally, more than 60% of respondents state that AI has helped reduce annual costs by 5% or more. Nearly a quarter of respondents plan to utilize AI to create new business opportunities and revenue streams.

“AI technology has the potential to dramatically transform several markets, and with the financial sector this is no different, being one of the ones that most seems to be benefiting from this revolution.That is why investment in AI has ceased to be a differentiation option, to become a competitive demand”, comments Marcio Aguiar, director of the Enterprise division of NVIDIA for Latin America. 

The main use cases of Generative AI, in terms of return on investment (ROI), are trading and portfolio optimization, which account for 25% of responses, followed by customer experience and engagement with 21%. These figures highlight the practical and measurable benefits of AI as it transforms key business areas and generates financial gains.

The report also points out that half of the managers interviewed said they have already implemented their first service or application of generative AI, and additionally 28% of them still plan to do so in the next six months.In addition, there was a decline of 50% in the number of respondents who reported a lack of budget for AI, which suggests an increasing dedication to AI development and resource allocation.

The survey revealed fewer companies reporting data issues and privacy concerns, as well as reduced concern about insufficient data for training AI models. These improvements reflect the growing knowledge and best practices of data management in the industry.

As financial services companies allocate budget and become more experienced in data management, they can better position themselves to leverage AI to improve operational efficiency, security and innovation across all business functions.

Generative AI powers more use cases 

After data analysis, generative AI emerged as the second most widely used AI workload in the financial services industry.The applications of the technology have expanded significantly, from improving the customer experience to optimizing trading and portfolio management.

Notably, the use of generative AI for the customer experience, especially through chatbots and virtual assistants, has more than doubled, going from 25% to 60%. This increase is driven by the increasing availability, cost efficiency and scalability of AI generative technologies to power more sophisticated and accurate digital assistants that can improve customer interactions.

Now, more than half of financial professionals use generative AI to increase the speed and accuracy of critical tasks such as document processing and reporting. 

Financial institutions are also prepared to benefit from AI Agents ''systems that leverage large amounts of data from multiple sources and utilize sophisticated reasoning to autonomously solve complex, multi-step problems. Banks and asset managers can use AI agent systems to improve risk management, automate compliance processes, optimize investment strategies, and personalize customer service.

Advanced AI drives innovation

Recognizing the transformative potential of AI, companies are taking proactive steps to build AI factories & AI platforms specially built and equipped with full-stack AI software & AI through cloud vendors or on-premises.This strategic focus on implementing high-value AI use cases is crucial to improving customer service, increasing revenues and reducing costs. 

By leveraging advanced infrastructure and software, companies can streamline the development and deployment of AI models and position themselves to harness the power of agency AI. 

With industry leaders predicting at least twice the ROI on AI investments, financial institutions remain highly motivated to implement their highest-value AI use cases to drive efficiency and innovation. 

Download the full report to learn more about how financial services companies are using accelerated computing and AI to transform services and business operations.