Accenture was contracted by Westpac to create AI-powered agents that are already being utilized in software development and might eventually help its bankers handle loan applications.
A kind of generative AI called agentic AI uses robots to mimic human decision-making. Beyond chatbots, which only present and relay information to a user, AI agents are able to take action.
“The application of these agents is growing across the bank, and we have identified multiple use cases,” said Pieter Vorster, Westpac’s general manager for data platforms. “Products, customer services, scams and fraud are all part of the mix. Its potential is bank-wide.”
According to Accenture, the Sydney-based bank is at the forefront of worldwide thinking on agentic artificial intelligence (AI), a topic that has become one of the most popular topics for engineers working in the financial services sector.
While OpenAI and other US AI companies have been including agentic capabilities in their models, making the technology more accessible to businesses, the launch of DeepSeek from China has highlighted the falling cost of implementing big language models.
In the middle of January, OpenAI unveiled a research preview of Operator, an AI assistant that can browse the web and carry out activities for the user.
Banks want AI to revolutionize processes and greatly increase the efficiency of data processing. An AI agent has already been effectively employed by Westpac to assist its programmers in moving computer code from outdated systems to more modern, cloud-based ones.
According to the bank, an AI machine could complete tasks that previously took a human engineer six days in just one hour.
Banks are getting ready for a future in which groups of AI bots, supervised by human bankers, would automate compliance checks and expedite procedures like opening a new account and applying for a mortgage by organizing the required approved paperwork.
“The biggest shift with agentic AI is getting autonomous squads of agents working together to fulfil a task – to actually do work for human beings, to understand language and instructions and work together to execute,” Vorster said.
“This is unique; agents can work alongside teams, becoming quasi employees.”
As Commonwealth Bank develops its artificial intelligence capabilities, including creating agents, the statements draw attention to the AI arms race between the nation’s two biggest banks.
CBA said last month that it has reduced its investment in AI at its interim results conference, although it did not specify when efficiency advantages would be realized.
In order to train agents in customer service, knowledge management, compliance, product planning, and sales, Accenture is collaborating with several international banks, including Westpac.
Making an agent to answer calls is one of the applications being developed for an Asian bank. They are also being designed to raise red flags throughout the mortgage application process, generate credit notes, and conduct risk assessments to guarantee adherence to anti-money laundering regulations.
According to Mike Abbott, the global banking head for the consultancy firm, productivity increases of 20 to 30 percent “are generally what people are seeing right now.”
“Similar to Excel in the 1980s, we knew the spreadsheet was going to change finance, we were just not sure how. That is what is happening now: software is becoming more efficient, and this is just the beginning.”
Vorster said the bank’s agents had “gone through a software development life cycle, and gone from six days to do an activity to one hour”.
“We have put it into production to do a piece of work, migrating from one technology to another. We have measured the success and gone through the full internal governance processes of the bank, as if people have done it,” he said.
“That is unique and possibly world leading. It has provided us with material savings and benefits. We have proven agents are really valuable for the engineers and pay for themselves.”
Ian Pollari, financial services lead for Accenture in Australia, said more banks would deploy agentic AI this year, “to improve operational workflows, support bankers with administrative work and looking ahead, to create customer-facing agents”.
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