CAN Artificial Intelligence (AI) really transform banking in the Asia-Pacific? It has begun. AI and its subsets - machine learning, intelligent automation and deep learning - are already widely in evidence in the banking industry. In Singapore, the National Research Foundation will be investing up to S$150 million over the next five years into a new national programme aimed at boosting the country's AI capabilities. One of its key areas of focus will be driving the uptake of AI technologies in business.

According to Accenture Technology's Vision 2017 Survey of more than 5,400 IT and business executives globally, 85 per cent report that they will invest extensively in AI-related technologies over the next three years. Banking has been one of the industries at the forefront of investing in AI, but the sector has yet to be truly transformed.

Robotics, the high-profile customer-facing example of AI, has made waves in the media. In Japan, customers became aware of the possibilities of robots after SoftBank Group made a 48-inch humanoid called Pepper. She debuted in 2015 at Mizuho Financial Group's flagship Tokyo branch, entertaining customers with games and multimedia and providing basic information on products.