Scotiabank Launches Global AI Platform

Need to Know

• The new platform will provide personalized financial advice by using machine learning to anticipate and understanding customers’ needs.
• Scotiabank’s AI is also designed for business use as well as for personal financial planning and goal-setting.
• Scotiabank plans to evolve the platform to deploy analytics applications to on-premise hardware as well as in cloud-based environments.

Analysis

Scotiabank has announced the launch of a new AI platform that will help the bank better deliver personalized financial advice to its customers.

The tool has been used by Scotiabank over the last 10 months to deliver quicker, more accurate insights and advice to its global customers. The platform uses AI models that are a central piece of Scotiabank’s retail banking programs that focus on customer engagement; using the provision of strong customer advice as a priority, the platform allows Scotiabank to provide data to customers that accurately supports individual financial goals. In addition to being primed for individual customer use, Scotiabank’s AI tool is also well suited to business and enterprise.

“A key part of Scotiabank’s AI strategy has been to build a strong talent pool of data scientists and data engineers, fully integrating them with business analytics professionals who have deep banking knowledge,” Phil Thomas, EVP of customer insights, data, and analytics, Scotiabank, said in a statement. “To enable our winning teams to deliver financially impactful AI initiatives, we’ve created a global modern analytics platform that is flexible, resilient and integrated into our businesses.” 

The AI tool was developed partly in response to shifting financial needs due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “This global pandemic has reinforced the importance of delivering customized financial advice that speaks to our customers’ unique business and household situations,” said Dan Rees, group head of Canadian banking for Scotiabank. “Scotiabank’s investments in technology have allowed us to continue to provide the valued advice and support our customers have told us they’re receiving from us, as a leading bank in customer satisfaction.”

Scotiabank plans to use the platform in the future to deploy analytics applications to on-premise hardware as well as cloud-based environments.

The new AI platform is just the latest development in Scotiabank’s ongoing AI strategy. In November of last year, the bank launched the first Trusted Data & AI for Canadian Business certification in Canada, in partnership with Smith School of Business at Queen’s University. The course will provide an overview of ethical AI principles for business leaders and executives. And in September, the bank announced plans to leverage NVIDIA’s AI tools to help improve credit risk assessment using a technique that quickly generates scorecards to give applicants credit when they are deserving of it.