A Microsoft executive said that artificial intelligence will be a game changer to wealth management, as the ability of this new technology to process information will close the gap in competing with established banks.
Martin Moelle, head of AI & GenAI for financial services at Microsoft, said that AI’s data processing capability will allow a small group of people to provide financial services that are traditionally required by a larger team from financial institutions.
Generative AI will lower the market’s barrier of entry for startups and help boost competitiveness, just as digitalization and the internet reshaped the finance sector decades ago, Martin told Reuters.
Klarna, a Swedish payment service provider, has been using AI from OpenAI to perform the work of 700 employees since early 2024.
Sergio Ermotti, CEO of the world’s largest asset manager UBS, said this month that he sees an AI potential to boost productivity and help his employees in their jobs.
Moeller also added that banks could re-enter the wealth management business by using AI to lower investment costs in customer advisors.
Advancement in AI are also changing customers’ behavior, with more emerging entrepreneurs willing to manage their investment themself, he said
To address the changing environment, many banks are working on AI that would allow customers to independently consolidate information.
Currently, there is no advisory AI for products or specific investments, but the upcoming “agentic AI,” an AI that independently makes its own decisions without human involvement, is estimated to launch around the next two years.
