TALKING

It is also ideally placed to retrieve information that human agents would have difficulty in committing to memory , like supplier-specific clauses . Generative AI allows employees to focus on negotiation and compliance , thereby , once again improving risk management .

Social listening

Haider Pasha , Chief Security Officer , Palo Alto

Networks , EMEA and LATAM

Customers live digitally and share their experiences with everyone . For commercial entities like banks , this sharing may be with the brand in the form of direct feedback , or it may be with other consumers on social media .

For a bank with millions of customers , it would be impractical to have employees trawl even the company ’ s own feedback data in search of insights . LLMs , however , are very much up to the challenge .

Role of regulations in cybersecurity

Regulations heavily influence the financial sector ’ s cybersecurity strategies , often focusing on risk management . However , while threats evolve quickly , regulations tend to lag , and take time to develop .

Traditional corporate security teams can no longer prevent breaches as swiftly as attackers compromise systems , and monitoring tools have limited ability to stop a threat . That is because the time it takes for attackers to compromise and exfiltrate data is now quicker than the time it takes for an organisation to remediate , which is typically 4 – 6 days .

With the average data breach now costing around $ 4.45 million , financial institutions need a proactive cybersecurity strategy , not one that is reactive to regulation alone , including investment in advanced technologies to quickly detect and neutralise threats .

Financial institutions should only view regulatory requirements as a foundational baseline , rather than a comprehensive basis for defence . Within the financial sector , more than any other , proactive , threat-based strategies are essential .

AI is reshaping business functions in financial services , enhancing the customer experience and operational efficiency , but it also introduces new security risks . Today , attackers are using AI for reconnaissance , social engineering , malicious code development and more . These tactics accelerate attacks , making them harder to combat with traditional cybersecurity measures .

Even within the security department it has become a double-edged sword , aiding both cybercriminals and defenders . While many organisations adopt AI to improve operations , the technology also expands attack surfaces , allowing cybercriminals to automate and scale attacks .

By consolidating security products and shifting to a platform approach , AIdriven cybersecurity solutions can be best utilised to help institutions detect and respond to threats in real time , protect data and be more agile in response to incoming regulation .

In order to put the right solutions in place , security teams first need trust and investment and that means taking the cyber challenge to the board . C-level leaders in the financial sector often underestimate their cyber-resilience and so effective communication from CISOs and CTOs about cybersecurity risks and investment needs is essential .

They can sift through surveys , reviews , and social pages rapidly . They can find connections and recurring themes , recognise sentiments , and tie comments back to specific products or product lines . And they do so without bias , ensuring more accurate insights . This is the kind of information businesses can use to improve offerings and delight customers .

Financial summaries

Documentation , when done manually , is one of the most time-consuming tasks in an employee ’ s daily workload . Financial commentaries are orders of magnitude lengthier and more complex . But when Generative AI takes over data synthesis and analysis of trends , performance and risk , it can rapidly produce initial drafts of deliverables such as quarterly performance summaries or market-outlook reports .

This alleviates the burden on finance professionals who need only fine-tune the commentary . The labour saved by Generative AI puts time back into the hands of innovative humans who can use it to strategize and create .

Integration of Generative AI

The main challenge for organisations eager to avail themselves of these advantages will lie in how to securely integrate Generative AI into their workflows . The enterprise must take care during procurement to ensure the chosen AI partner can integrate Generative AI with full security , governance , and operational controls , so customers and regulators can both be satisfied with the result .

A finance team equipped with Generative AI will be a strategic leader within any organisation . The capability to lubricate the machinery of finance , and therefore of business , comes as standard . And when team members become comfortable with their AI colleague , the business will be setting standards of excellence for others to follow . p

38 INTELLIGENTCIO MIDDLE EAST www . intelligentcio . com