Major banks’ tech spend continued to climb in 2023 as financial institutions invested in AI to add efficiencies, train employees and jump-start innovation.  

Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo, which all reported an increase in their tech spend in the third quarter, have been investing heavily in AI-related ventures and identified uses for AI throughout their operations this year:  

• In March, Goldman Sachs invested an undisclosed amount in Bud Financial, an AI-driven data analytics company; 
• In April, Citi Ventures led a funding round for AI-driven risk management service provider Quantifind; 
• In May, Bank of America launched AI-driven chatbot Erica internally; and  
• In June, JPMorgan invested in AI-driven document digitization company Cleareye.ai. 

Q3 non-interest expenses: 

The financial institutions spoke at the Goldman Sachs 2023 U.S. Financial Services Conference and a Fintech Futures webinar this week to discuss how they’re approaching AI and what the technology is bringing to their institutions. Here’s what they said: 

Goldman Sachs

“We spent a lot of time over the last several years in machine learning [and] AI; it has applicability across the firm to different activities,” Chief Financial Officer Denis Coleman said. 

Goldman is looking to generative AI for developer assistance, including coding, and for lead generation among client-facing operations. The New York-based bank uses AI for document processing, option pricing models and other “simple cost efficiencies,” Coleman said.  

The $538 billion bank made 28 AI-related investments this year, including an undisclosed amount in Bud Financial, an AI-driven data analytics company. 

JPMorgan

“We’re making sure that we’re investing in our foundational capabilities, so we can accelerate our AI opportunity,” Marianne Lake, co-chief executive of consumer and community banking, said. 

The $3.7 trillion JPMorgan sees “a lot of opportunity in the tech space” and is building new digital capabilities and new products by using AI, Lake said.

There is “a lot of profit opportunity there [in] wealth management, and we’re growing our advisors” capabilities with regard to AI, she said, noting that the bank aims to use AI for “personalization” services for its customers and fraud control measures in its operations.  

JPMorgan topped the list of global banks for its AI efforts with over 300 uses cases for AI in production, according to the Nov. 15 report by AI tech company Evident. The bank has 1,000 people involved in data management and more than 900 data scientists working on AI and machine learning, the report states. The November 2023 Evident Index report ranks 50 banks based on over 100 individual indicators drawn from publicly available data points specific to talent, innovation, leadership and transparency. 

Wells Fargo

Chief Executive Charlie Scharf said “there’s no doubt that AI will have a materially positive impact on our company,” during the Goldman Sachs conference. 

The $1.7 trillion bank’s size and resources give it an edge in developing and deploying the technology, he said. 

“Whether that means becoming more efficient, whether it’s in call centers, whether it’s in the investment bank and production of pitch books, creation of ideas, advice products that we can offer consumers and companies, our ability to invest in that work is significant,” Scharf said. 

Wells Fargo ranks among the top four global banks for its AI efforts and ranks fourth for its AI talent, beating out Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, which are ranked at nine and seven respectively, according to the Evident report. 

The bank is taking a cautious approach toward gen AI because it believes that it is “responsible for the outcomes of what these models generate” and is “going to be very careful to ensure that whatever we roll out is better for our customers,” Scharf said. 

HSBC

HSBC, meanwhile, is focused on “preparing [the] workforce through education and engagement, whether it’s the establishment of an AI Center of Excellence, whether it’s workforce-based planning with literacy programs,” EJ Achtner, head of digital banking, said during the Fintech Futures webinar Dec. 7. 

HSBC is looking toward developing AI capabilities along with training its workforce to keep up with the evolving technology.  

In March 2022, the London-based bank launched an AI Ambassador program that helps employees in learning and understanding the foundational concepts within AI and machine learning, such as supervised versus unsupervised learning and the basics of generative AI, according to the company’s website. 

The $3 trillion bank is looking to build an “ecosystem of partners that you can build with over a period of time,” Achtner said. 

In June, HSBC teamed with Google Cloud to use the tech giant’s AI-driven anti money-laundering tool to increase efficiency and drive down costs. 

The bank ranks among top 13 banks globally for its AI efforts and is working with regulators in Singapore to shape potential rules to govern AI technology, according to the Evident report. 

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