NatWest teams up with Microsoft and DreamQuark to predict markets with AI
NatWest is using artificial intelligence (AI) to predict financial market patterns in a partnership with Microsoft and financial AI company DreamQuark.
NatWest looks to AI to predict patterns
The new platform ‘Next Generation Complex Analytics’ will use AI to simulate financial markets, spotting opportunities and risks in each one.
Currently in beta testing, the platform aims to guide NatWest employees with suggestions which they will then evaluate and decide whether they will be effective. In the buy-to-let mortgage market, for example, AI can determine the effect of price changes on the demand for small business loans.
“By allowing us to better predict future outcomes, risks and trends, the implementation of this technology could be of significant value to our customers and shareholders over the coming years,” says NatWest’s innovation and solutions director Kevin Hanley.
Hanley adds: “For the first time we’ll be able to deliver an aggregated, forward looking view of the world around us, ultimately helping us build a stronger, safer bank.”
Read more: NatWest online banking glitch exposes account details to wrong customers
Microsoft’s report ‘Accelerating Competitive Advantage with AI’ revealed an 11.5% performance advantage in firms which use AI over ones that don’t.
UK chief executive at Microsoft Cindy Rose believes AI is “the engine of the fourth industrial revolution”, after the invention of steam engines, airplanes and the internet.
“It has the potential to fundamentally transform how entire industries operate, delivering greater value to organisations, employees, customers and society as a whole,” says Rose.
Earlier this year NatWest teamed up with Microsoft to create an AI-assisted chatbot and data warehouse for the bank’s customers at Esme Loans, a standalone digital lender.
The bank has also dabbled in voice AI, launching its pilot in August with Google Assistant which allowed 500 customers to bank from their house through a Google Home smart speaker or on their smartphone.
Most recently, NatWest Markets, the investment banking arm of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, announced it’s using London-based fintech ipushpull to share trade axes in real-time with large buy-side clients.
The partnership will see ipushpull’s API-first platform automate NatWest Market’s workflows, with a view to help with its database loaders in future.
Read on: What financial institutions need to build a strong AI strategy
