Good morning. CFOs continue to explore use cases for generative AI to support efficiency and productivity. But there are significant risks to adopting this technology, and doing it the right way, especially since financial services is one of the most highly regulated industries in the world. BNY is the latest bank to make progress, developing its own generative AI-powered assistant.
“How BNY's New AI Tool Eliza Will Create an Army of Disposable Assistants” is an exclusive Fortune report from my colleague Michael del Castillo. BNY, which has $50 trillion worth of assets in custody or under management, is one of the world's largest banks to have launched its own AI.
Del Castillo writes: “BNY's new AI tool is named Eliza, after the wife of Alexander Hamilton, who founded the bank's predecessor. The physical parts of Eliza's brain are made up of microchips from Nvidia and cloud infrastructure powered by Microsoft's Azure and Google Cloud. But Eliza's thinking – the way she approaches problems – is unique to BNY, using OpenAI's GPT-4, Google's Gemini and Meta's Llama.”
“While most open-source AI is essentially an all-purpose virtual assistant, Eliza allows employees to create custom assistants (BNY prefers the term 'agents') and input their own data to perform specific tasks.” Eliza is currently used by a quarter of the bank's employees, or about 14,000 people.
You can read the full story of how Eliza came to be here.
Financial services CEOs are moving ahead with generative AI adoption, according to a June IBM survey: More than half (57%) of banking and financial markets (BFM) CEOs surveyed said their ability to gain competitive advantage will depend on who has the most advanced generative AI.
The IBM findings are part of an annual global, cross-industry survey of more than 3,000 CEOs across 26 industries and more than 30 countries, including 297 CEOs from the BFM sector.
But implementing technology transformation requires a cultural shift, which is why 65% of companies say AI success depends more on people adoption than the technology itself. That said, the survey also found that 60% of respondents say they are driving AI adoption faster than their employees would like.
Another survey finding was that 53% of CEOs say they are struggling to find talent for key technical roles, and half of CEOs say generative AI has led them to hire for roles that didn't even exist this time last year. Another aspect of using generative AI is maintaining customer trust, which CEOs say has a bigger impact on their success than any particular product or service.
“Workforce needs are changing rapidly in the financial services sector and CEOs need to prioritize upskilling programs,” Shankar Ramamurthy, global managing partner at IBM Consulting, said in a statement.
Given the financial services sector’s plans to focus entirely on generative AI, this is certainly something to consider.
Have a nice weekend.
Cheryl Estrada
[email protected]
The following section of CFO Daily was edited by Greg McKenna.
Leaderboard
Notable developments this week:
Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) CFO Rachel Ruggeri will serve as interim CEO until Sept. 9, at which point Brian Niccol, current CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., will join the company as chairman and CEO.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) CFO Jack Hartung recently announced he will retire from Chipotle in 2025 but has agreed to stay on at the company indefinitely as president of strategy, finance and supply chain. COO Scott Boatwright will serve as interim CEO.
Robin Kooyman has been appointed CFO of BlackLine Safety (TSX: BLN), a maker of employee safety technology, effective Sept. 9. He replaces Shane Grennan, the previous CFO, who resigned in June to pursue other opportunities after eight years in the role, according to the company.
Matteo Anversa has been appointed CFO of Swiss computer hardware maker Logitec (Nasdaq: LOGI), effective Sept. 1. He succeeds interim CFO Meeta Sunderwala, who also serves as the company's chief accounting officer.
D. Anthony Scaglione, EVP and CFO of ODP Corporation (NASDAQ: ODP), a provider of products, services and technology solutions, is leaving his position to pursue a new career opportunity.
Nigel Clarkin has been appointed CFO of ICON plc (NASDAQ: ICLR), a healthcare information and clinical research organization, having most recently served as CFO of LetsGetChecked, a global provider of home healthcare services.
Laura Russell has been promoted to interim CFO of Arizona-based electronics component maker Rogers Corporation (NYSE: ROG), effective Aug. 12. She replaces former CFO Ram Mayampras, who resigned from the position after three years to pursue other opportunities, according to the company.
Big Deal
Most executives expect investments in Gen AI to generate positive benefits over the next three years, according to a new study from KPMG. The firm surveyed 225 senior business leaders from companies with more than $1 billion in revenue, and found that 83% of respondents said they would increase spending on Gen AI over the next three years, and 78% said they were confident about the ROI of their planned AI investments over that time period.
However, only 16% of those surveyed said their organization's workforce is highly skilled in all areas needed to leverage GenAI, while 69% said their organization is training employees on GenAI, and 61% said their organization is actively hiring to support AI initiatives.
“The leaders I speak to believe that combining AI technologies with investments in people will deliver results in the form of improved performance, improved quality, and enhanced customer experience and loyalty,” said Karl Carande, vice chairman, advisory at KPMG.
Going deeper
Below is an excerpt from Fortune magazine's article over the weekend.
“China's new love for milk could be a $626 billion business: How U.S. banks and dairy farmers stand to profit” by Michael del Castillo
“Starbucks to hire new CEO Brian Niccol with $113M salary and remote work option” by Amanda Gelatt
“The key to escaping a years-long waiting list at South Florida's most exclusive country club: $1 million and golf clubs” by Alicia Adamczyk
“The presence of toxic metals in tampons is raising alarm bells. This is the kind of reaction I made when I started my company 35 years ago.” – Susie Hewson
Stories I've heard
“Remember, through years of hard work, you have earned the right to choose your next path. If you do, your life will be more meaningful, not transactional, and ultimately happier. What will you call your next chapter? Mine? Rewirement: A Personal Renaissance.”
—Ann Chou writes in a Fortune opinion piece, “Gen Xers, the Retirement Crisis That's Keeping You Up at Night is a Chance to Reinvent.” Chou is the former CEO of AT&T Business, lead director on the board of Franklin Covey, a director of 3M and CSX, and author of the upcoming book, Lead Bigger: The Transformative Power of Inclusion.
