AI is transforming the banking industry, ushering in a new era of efficiency and streamlined operations. By harnessing the power of flexible, cloud-based platforms, AI is automating processes, reducing inefficiencies, and enhancing risk management. This technological revolution not only optimises internal operations but also simplifies regulatory compliance, leading to significant operational savings.
Financial institutions are also looking to AI to provide hyper-personalised services that resonate with individual customer needs, redefining the customer experience. The aim is frictionless banking, with providers wanting to build trust and loyalty with their customers. The increasing expectations of tech-savvy consumers, particularly those from the Gen Z demographic, demand that banks move beyond conventional transactional models to offer seamless, empathetic, and integrated financial solutions. And this matters.
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According to the JD Power 2024 US Retail Banking Satisfaction Study, the percentage of customers that have switched banks has gone up, with 13% of bank customers saying they are likely to switch institutions in the next 12 months and fewer than half (46%) of bank customers saying they are certain they will remain with their current bank in the next year[i]. Of switchers, 26% said they moved banks due to experiencing poor service.
Banks are now looking to leverage AI to enhance customer experiences, with chatbots and virtual assistants providing 24/7 customer support and offering hyper-personalised financial products and services, enhancing customer satisfaction and engagement. As banks continue to innovate and adopt AI technologies, the potential for enhanced customer satisfaction and engagement is likely to grow.
For technology providers, supporting the transition to intelligent banking lies with superior user experiences and business models, while building resilient infrastructure to accelerate modernisation and simplify the journey to intelligence and scenario-based innovation.
Intelligent finance
At the 13th Huawei Intelligent Finance Summit (HiFS 2025) in Dongguan, China, over 500 attendees from global financial institutions and partners across more than 50 countries and regions came together under the theme “Beyond Digital, Resilience Empowers AI-Infused Finance.” The summit explored how AI, cloud, and big data technologies are accelerating the transition from ‘Doing Digital to Doing AI’ and shaping a new financial landscape for the intelligent era.
Jason Cao, CEO of Huawei Digital Finance BU, delivered a compelling keynote that highlighted Huawei’s 15-year journey in the financial technology sector. Cao emphasised the company’s global reach, working with financial customers in 54 countries and the world’s top 100 banks to build an active-active architecture.
Cao’s speech centred on two key themes: Huawei’s strategic evolution from hardware to cloud to intelligence, and the transformative potential of digital and AI technologies in the financial industry. Cao also outlined Huawei’s four strategic focuses: building resilient infrastructure, accelerating application modernisation, leveraging data, and enabling business innovations.
“Over the past decade, mobile payment innovations have fuelled digital transformation in banking,” says Cao. “Looking ahead, intelligence is set to be the next game changer, accelerating innovation beyond imagination. The synergy of the Digital Flywheel and AI Flywheel will propel the banking sector into a new era of intelligence.”
This new reference model, Digital + AI Flywheel, is set to drive financial growth in the AI era, supporting the finance industry’s rapid digital and intelligent transformation. The Digital Flywheel methodology, developed by leading Chinese banks, enables financial institutions to connect with users through apps and APIs, generating vast amounts of data that is used to train intelligent models for more accurate risk management and product recommendation services. The Digital Flywheel is a foundation for financial institutions to navigate the transformative impact of AI over the next decade and to harness its full potential.
Unleashing the flywheel
To unleash the full power of the Digital Flywheel, Cao emphasises the need for modernised applications, unified data service platforms, and a resilient infrastructure.
Firstly, Huawei has introduced the 4M methodology for modernising applications and launched a 4M-based Digital Core solution to help customers transition to Legacy Free. The solution also includes upgrades for platforms, for high availability and elastic scaling, transitioning from centralised to distributed databases, updated engineering for zero downtime and data consistency during system migration, and O&M modernisation for rapid fault detection and recovery.
Secondly, the Digital Flywheel relies on a robust and efficient data platform, as financial institutions handle 30% higher data volumes annually due to AI development. Future-oriented platforms should achieve millisecond-level processing, integrate data across domains, consolidate data for unified management, and enhance data use experiences for consumers, banking professionals, and IT personnel.
Thirdly, resilient infrastructure is the foundation of both application modernisation and data platforms. Huawei has unveiled two innovative solutions based on the Reliability, Availability, Autonomy and Security (R-A-A-S) Framework: the new Dorado storage solution, which ensures zero data loss and high compatibility; and the Intelligent Disaster Recovery Platform, which detects issues within one minute and achieves minute-level recovery during major natural disasters.
Additionally, Huawei is upgrading its Finance Partner Program this year, allowing it to work with partners and better serve finance industry customers by building more robust and reliable infrastructure, developing scenario-based solutions, and promoting the growth of a healthy, open, and mutually beneficial partner ecosystem. Cao notes: “We believe knowledge is the path to success.”
To date, Huawei has already worked alongside more than 11,000 collaborators in the finance industry from around the world, serving over 5,600 industry customers from more than 80 countries and regions.
Click here to learn more about Huawei’s innovative financial solutions.
[i] https://www.retailbankerinternational.com/news/us-retail-bank-customer-trust-declines-reports-jd-power/
