Can AI Replace My Banker?

Banking apps have disrupted our habits and our relationship with the bank as a physical entity. At a time when AI is gradually imposing itself as an even deeper evolution, it is legitimate to wonder about the future of our bankers in their branches. Does their profession still have meaning and a future in this world where everything is settled in just a few clicks? We meet with Cédric Weisse, Head of Retail Banking at BIL.*

To what extent has (or hasn’t) AI modified your profession?

Cédric Weisse: It has been and will continue to be, but not always in the way one might imagine. Let me explain. With the arrival of the Internet 25 years ago, our clients gained the possibility to inform themselves at any time about financial management in only a few clicks. With digital banking, which appeared 10 years ago, everyday banking services became available 24/7. Today, AI is further reinforcing this accessibility and making instant exchanges possible across various aspects of the banking relationship. Clients expect to be served without delay and at their convenience.

As bankers, we must take this evolution into account. This means being ever more reactive and knowing how to respond to the new expectations of this clientele. But this is a good thing, because AI also allows our clients to be both more autonomous and better prepared. For the banker, this means being able to focus on what is most important, that is to say, the tasks where the human brings real added value. The quality of interaction is greatly improved as a result.

AI and new technologies more broadly have also led to the emergence of new actors. Fintechs, neobanks or cryptocurrencyrelated platforms have changed our relationship to competition, which used to be limited to the exclusive domain of traditional banking players. This change affects sector professionals on the one hand, but also directly our clients, who now have a broader choice. The environment is more competitive and this forces everyone to become even better, notably thanks to new tools available such as AI.

The environment is more competitive and this forces everyone to become even better, notably thanks to new tools available such as AI.

Do you yourself use AI in your work today?

CW: Of course, it has become an essential tool, even if we always reflect on how to make the best possible use of it. Moreover, BIL very quickly understood that it could not use a “generic” AI platform. We cannot and do not want to entrust our clients’ financial data to ChatGPT. As the banking environment is in any case very regulated and controlled, we had to find a way to benefit from the best that AI offers while integrating these tools within a highly controlled environment.

That is why we have several AI modules developed by BIL and operated internally within a fully secured environment powered by the BIL Cloud. Specifically dedicated to banking topics, these modules are accessible to all employees. I myself use them as a source of inspiration to design documents, as an aid to structure and draft them, or even to translate them. With a clientele as cosmopolitan as ours, this is a valuable asset.

Is AI a useful tool in everyday life?

CW: Absolutely, I believe that today, a banker is all the more competent when he benefits from an AI agent calibrated according to his needs. In other words, because AI takes charge of repetitive, redundant and easily automatable tasks, the banker gains efficiency and will make the difference on certain missions. More than ever before, a banker will be able to be a banker, insofar as AI frees him from what is not at the core of his activity.

More than ever before, a banker will be able to be a banker, insofar as AI frees him from what is not at the core of his activity.

This is already the case in certain institutions, where some bankers benefit from this support which enables them to advise their clients more quickly and more precisely. While digitalisation initiated this dynamic long ago, AI is accelerating it dramatically. This is why we often speak of a revolution, even if the move started decades ago.

Today, BIL is moving forward based on a phygital model, combining the best of both worlds. Digital tools, and AI in particular, enable speed, constant availability, increased autonomy for the client, but also improved reactivity for the banker. The human dimension remains at the heart of our activity through listening, advising and longterm support.

Let’s be direct: can AI replace my banker?

CW: I am deeply convinced that it cannot. However, the interaction one can have with their banker has already changed with digitalisation and will continue to change under the influence of AI. As I said earlier, the “truth” lies in a phygital model that combines the human with a palette of digital tools.

I see it every day: we are in a country where people like to speak about finance with a human, but not when it comes to making a transfer. In that case, a simple, secure and accessible digital solution is enough. But the banker’s profession goes far beyond making monetary flows possible from one pocket to another. The conversation with one’s banker makes sense when it concerns medium and longterm projects. The banker then provides expertise and deep knowledge in the face of major financial issues, specific projects to be financed, life stages to be planned.

Human interaction will not disappear; it will simply be different, and in a way that seems promising both for the client and for the bank’s employees.

In Luxembourg, our clients like to speak about finance with humans, but not when it comes to making a transfer. In that case, a simple, secure and accessible digital solution is enough.

Concretely, what form does this take for retail banking?

CW: Beyond opening an account, everyday financial management or building savings, support related to financing a property project is often a cornerstone of the relationship between a client and their bank. Personally, I find it hard to believe that a client would be ready to entrust to an AI module what is sometimes the financial adventure of a lifetime. This client will want to be accompanied by a human, who knows them, listens, reassures and perhaps also advises them.

The same applies when establishing a wealth review or discussing retirement or inheritance matters. As these topics involve a large number of emotions, it is to a human that one wishes to speak, not to an algorithm — even if the algorithm is perfectly efficient. When it comes to money, there are always psychological factors to consider. The question is therefore not to choose between one or another perspective, but to determine wisely which one is most appropriate for the situation.

Precisely, in which situation is AI the most effective?

CW: The great strength of digital tools and AI remains instantaneity. Translated into client benefits, this means being able to access one’s accounts or obtain a certificate at any hour of the day or night, block or unblock a credit card very quickly, or even obtain assistance to complete one’s tax declaration. If you ask Berry, the AI assistant on our BILnet platform, it will tell you the list of documents and banking information to provide, where to find them within your BILnet environment and how to generate them.

Another point: where AI is sometimes seen as a threat, we above all consider it an effective tool to fight against the threat. On cybersecurity issues, it is true that AI can represent a risk through the applications it makes possible. When used well, this same AI primarily offers opportunities to develop highly effective antifraud tools. Faced with increasingly sophisticated fraud attempts, AI provides increasingly effective solutions to detect and counter them.

Faced with increasingly sophisticated fraud attempts, AI provides increasingly effective solutions to detect and counter them.

Tomorrow, what AI developments can we expect for services aimed at individuals or professionals?

CW: From a client perspective, expectations are once again focused on the acceleration of decisionmaking and response times. We can therefore imagine that solutions moving in this direction will be designed in the future. It is not the most innovative, but in the field of retail banking, it makes sense.

AI and digitalisation have strong disruptive potential, even if it is not always simple to predict how they will continue transforming an environment as traditional and regulated as banking. AI increases descriptive perspectives (through better analysis of our clients’ data), diagnostic perspectives (by instantly identifying the different solutions to consider for a specific need) and predictive perspectives (notably to prevent fraud).

From the perspective of professionals whom I represent, AI gives us access to an absolutely unprecedented potential for change. It is up to us to know how to make the most of it to better anticipate the expectations of our clients, daring to innovate to serve them better tomorrow. AI is a fantastic tool for those who know how to use it. We will be among them!

* Content translated from French by the BIL GPT AI tool