Why AI is now embedded ‘in almost everything we do’: OCBC’s Praveen Raina

[SINGAPORE] Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a catalyst for OCBC’s technology overhaul, sharply reducing the time needed to rewrite legacy systems, said Praveen Raina, the bank’s head of group operations and technology.

Tasks that once required years of manual code review are now completed in a fraction of the time. In one Hong Kong project involving the retirement of Cobol, AI cut the expected migration timeline by up to three years.

“At least 40 to 50 per cent of the work is already done,” Raina said, freeing engineers to focus on higher-value testing and problem-solving.