Banking is already the second biggest global spender on AI systems (after retail) and the sector is expected to invest a further $ billion on AI this year.22 A quarter of major banks’ activities and almost a third of all UK payments activity are already hosted on the Cloud, and there are considerable opportunities for even more intensive usage.23 Cloud service providers offer ready-made solutions that can speed up time to market, provide superior analytics, and enable businesses to adjust quickly their business models. If deployed at scale, cloud technology could provide lowcost, resilient computing power and easy access to AI capabilities, unlocking 30-50% unit cost savings.24 These savings can be passed onto customers and, if properly managed, improve the resilience of the overall system. For these reasons, the Bank of England is open to greater adoption of the Cloud and usage of AI. This means ensuring that these technologies are adopted in a safe manner, in ways that increase resilience. Careful attention will have to be given to risks, including of those associated in the single point of failure and market concentration. Two providers account for nearly half of revenues in cloud computing, bringing scale and efficiency, but also concerns about dependence and a single point of failure in the case of a cyberattack. In AI and ML, there is a reliance on data, but when there are biases in data or algorithms, or the situation isn’t captured by past experience prediction becomes difficult and judgement becomes more important.
This workshop is conceived as a platform for getting better insight in the fintech developments, exchanging opinions, sharing ideas with a view of drawing the outlines of our future FinTech Strategy. In this light, I am delighted to invite Mr. Tikam to share with us part of his rich experience and knowledge on this topic. Mr. Tikam is an experienced Executive Level Advisor with 26 years commercial experience, having played multifaceted roles, with the last 22 years in financial services. Having in mind Mr. Tikam’s proficiency, I have no doubts that today we will have fruitful discussions and valuable exchange of experiences to the benefit of all participants. Mr. Tikam, thank you for your efforts in making this workshop happen. The floor is yours. 1/1  BIS central bankers' speeches