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William Shakespeare, ever the wordsmith of human folly, might well have summed up the banking industry’s swooning over Artificial Intelligence with: “What is it else? A madness most discreet, a choking gall, and a preserving sweet.” Or, as your local banker might translate: “AI is driving us mad, but we’re still in love with it.”

This paradox perfectly captures the current state of banking’s AI obsession. Armed with grand declarations and PowerPoint slides, tech enthusiasts have stormed the vaults, promising to vanquish inefficiency, slay manual processes, and sprinkle productivity dust over the entire financial sector. And yet, for all its promises, AI sometimes feels like the dating app of banking: a bit overhyped, occasionally weird, but undeniably transformative when you find the right match.

The Banker’s Guide to AI: Swipe Right or Left?

Let’s face it—bankers are pretty conservative when it comes to adopting new tech. (Remember how long it took to move past fax machines?) On the other hand, AI vendors think a “safety and soundness” mandate is comparable to a Medjool date. (Spoiler: one keeps banks alive; the other is a snack.) This cultural gap perfectly sums up the challenge of aligning cutting-edge technology with prudential regulation.

So, when it comes to AI, here’s a practical breakdown of what’s worth a swipe right in 2025:

1. Agentic AI: The Intern That Never Asks for Coffee
Agentic AI is every banker’s dream intern: it shows up on time, tackles the boring stuff, and never complains about office donuts. Designed to take over soul-crushing tasks like data entry and paperwork, this tech is ready to roll—with a little human supervision. It might just save your employees’ sanity and your bank’s bottom line.

2. Generative AI: The Regulator Whisperer
Generative AI is that friend who can read through a 1,000-page regulatory document and explain it to you like a bedtime story. Sure, it has a bad habit of “hallucinating” now and then (like claiming you’ve got 14 branches in Atlantis), but with a domain expert watching over its shoulder, it’s ready for deployment. Bonus: it might finally make compliance departments fun at parties.

3. Predictive AI: The Nostradamus of Finance
Predictive AI has been around the block, crunching numbers for things like fraud detection and AML/BSA compliance. But here’s the catch: it’s working off a rulebook from 2011(SR 11-7). That’s like asking someone to predict crypto trends using a flip phone. Until regulators update their playbook, Predictive AI will be stuck with one hand tied behind its back.

Agile Compliance: A Buzzword (That Actually Makes Sense)

Banking tech typically works like this: you buy a shiny new tool, and then policy and process contort themselves into a pretzel to make it work. But this isn’t yoga—it’s banking. Enter agile compliance, which flips the script:

• Governance drives policy (What should we do?).
• Policy drives process (How do we do it?).
• Process drives technology (What tool makes this work?).

This means no more letting shiny gadgets dictate your strategy. Instead, governance is back in charge, like a responsible adult at a karaoke night. By keeping things purpose-driven, banks can innovate without accidentally putting their compliance teams in cardiac arrest.

So… Is AI the Future of Banking in 2025?

Let’s not beat around the bush: AI is like the office espresso machine—it’s not perfect, but it’s here to stay. Whether it’s automating drudgery, decoding regulations, or predicting risks, AI is a game-changer. But here’s the catch: it’s only as useful as the rules and frameworks we build around it.

So, is AI going to be useful in banking in 2025? The answer is yes—but only if we can govern it. And maybe, just maybe, if we can teach it to stop hallucinating about Atlantis.