• Published on 25 October 2023
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OCBC pioneers global rollout of generative AI chatbot

OCBC announced today that it will avail a generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot to its 30,000 employees globally in November 2023 to assist them with writing, research and ideation.

The deployment of the chatbot, a collaboration between Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI and OCBC, aims to further boost productivity and better serve customers.

OCBC ChatGPT is powered by ChatGPT’s large language models, which analyse queries and produce fully fleshed-out answers and results based on accessible text-based information on the web. At the same time, the chatbot is hosted in a secure and controlled environment. Information entered by OCBC staff is kept within the bank and will not be availed to Microsoft or any external parties.

The bank-wide roll-out comes after a six-month trial (April to September 2023) involving about 1,000 OCBC staff across multiple functions, including investment research, product management and marketing. They had used OCBC GPT in areas such as writing of investment research reports, translating of content in multiple languages and drafting of customer responses. On average, participants of the trial had shared that they were able to complete their tasks about 50% faster than previously. This included time taken to check OCBC GPT’s output to ensure factual accuracy.

Deploying generative AI productivity suite of tools since 2022

Prior to the launch of OCBC GPT, OCBC had deployed several generative AI productivity tools to develop code, summarise documents, transcribe calls and create an internal knowledge base. These tools have similarly boosted productivity by as high as 50%, freeing up employees' time and enabling them to focus on higher-value tasks. 

Donald MacDonald, head of group data office, OCBC said: “We are excited to be one of the first banks in the world to deploy generative AI tools at scale. We believe that these tools have the potential to transform the way our employees work by automating a wide range of time-consuming tasks, freeing up their time to focus on more strategic and value-added work. This in turn helps us provide better customer service by spending more time building relationships with customers and developing innovative products and services.”

More than four million decisions made by AI daily in the bank

The use of generative AI builds on OCBC’s earlier investments in AI. Currently, more than four million decisions – in processes such as risk management, customer service and sales – are made by AI in the bank daily. This is projected to increase to 10 million by 2025.

Using AI, personalised recommendations and insights are pushed to customers through the mobile banking app. Around 250 million of these insights are sent yearly to help customers save time and effort as well as improve their financial management.

AI is also harnessed to enhance the bank’s anti-money laundering efforts. Through an AI-powered platform, OCBC can quickly analyse customer profiles and networks, identifying suspicious communities and transactions.

Growing its own timber
In 2019, OCBC was the first Singapore bank to launch a postgraduate AI scholarship to nurture a pipeline of AI talent. In the same year, the bank launched its Data Certification Pathway to groom data professionals in house through a 12-to-18-month training. More than 300 staff have since completed this programme. In 2018, OCBC was the first bank in Singapore to launch a dedicated AI lab to strategically develop in-house AI capabilities, which has since been subsumed within the group data office.

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker