AI evolution to drive bigger role in business and digital banking, say industry leaders

THE rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years is poised to take on a significantly larger role in business operations, especially within the digital banking sector, according to industry experts at the Snowflake Summit 2025.

Bernama cited GXS Bank Head of Enterprise Technology, Generative AI and Technology Strategy Harikrishnan Raguraman said the core objective for most enterprises adopting AI is to enhance workforce productivity.

"Can we improve employee productivity through AI? That is the big dream. With stronger security postures and growing trust in AI, we can do much more – from marketing campaigns to fraud detection," he told Bernama on the sidelines of the event.

Security posture refers to an organisation’s ability to detect, respond to, and recover from threats such as cyberattacks and data breaches – a vital aspect in highly regulated industries like banking.

Harikrishnan highlighted how the transformation from traditional AI to generative AI has enabled more advanced tools. These include large language models (LLMs) supported by Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), which boosts the accuracy and relevance of data retrieved for user queries.

“The next leap is reasoning models or AI agents, which mark a fundamental shift from RAG. These agents don’t just provide answers – they can reason to find solutions,” he said.

According to global consultancy McKinsey, AI adoption reached 72 per cent in 2024, with AI agents emerging as the next frontier. These systems are designed to make autonomous decisions with minimal human intervention.

“AI agents will become significantly more capable. We’re using AI to assist humans, solve problems faster and more affordably,” Harikrishnan noted.

He added that AI's long-term trajectory could include solving problems beyond human capacity, echoing sentiments expressed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

“If there’s a really tough problem that human effort can’t solve, could AI do it? That’s what I think we’ll see in the next two to three years,” he said.

GXS Bank, Singapore’s first digital-only bank established in 2022 and backed by Grab Holdings and Singtel, currently uses Snowflake as its primary data platform. - June 6, 2025