CaixaBank and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) have established a joint innovation agreement with the aim of “promoting the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in new financial solutions, as well as creating new innovative work environments located in the Metaverse.”
The agreement involves the launch of an Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AI Innovation Lab) between both entities, “with the special involvement of CaixaBank Tech, the technology company launched in 2021 to promote the technological evolution of the CaixaBank Group.”
This IT subsidiary of CaixaBank “has a team of professionals specialized in the application of Artificial Intelligence to the financial sector and also has its own Center of Excellence to promote innovation in this field.”
The new Laboratory, located in Barcelona, will “work in coordination with the Artificial Intelligence R&D Hub that Microsoft has in the city, made up of nearly a hundred software developers , data scientists and machine learning specialists.”
The AI Innovation Lab will “focus on the development of proofs of concept, prototypes and use cases that explore the disruption in financial services from the application of Artificial Intelligence technologies.”
Among the first co-innovation projects identified, “those related to the improvement of AI models using new emerging technologies that are currently in the field of research stand out, as well as the incorporation of Artificial Intelligence in day to day ( ‘AI at Scale’).”
These initiatives may be “aimed at improving the efficiency of processes, the customer experience or cybersecurity, among other areas.”
An example of these innovative projects is the creation of a ‘cyberassistant’, which would help employees and backoffice units “to significantly reduce the activities of lower added value that they carry out, in order to have more time to manage their main activities.”
Another possibility would be “to explore improving system user interfaces so that both customers and employees can communicate with the entity’s technology using natural language, without having to remember menus or circuits.”
CaixaBank and Microsoft will also “work on the creation of interactive virtual environments (metaverses) that offer immersive experiences, with applications to improve the experience of customers and employees, as well as the implementation of hybrid work scenarios.”
The metaverse may have multiple possibilities in the financial sector, “from the creation of a new interaction channel that would extend the customer experience to the creation of internal collaboration models in virtual offices, through the incorporation and development of talent, among many others. others.”
Luis Javier Blas . Agüeros, Director of Media at CaixaBank, said:
“CaixaBank began exploring the uses of Artificial Intelligence in the financial sector more than a decade ago and this has made it one of the most active entities in launching new services based on this technology, with projects that have been a novelty worldwide, and a professional team of national and international reference. Joining forces with Microsoft in Artificial Intelligence research will help us accelerate the creation of real products and solutions by applying the most innovative technology that exists in this field and thus making it available to our customers and employees.”
Alberto Granados, president of Microsoft Spain, remarked:
“The combination of CaixaBank’s deep knowledge of the financial market, with Microsoft’s experience in Artificial Intelligence and other innovative technologies, will facilitate the development of solutions that will transform the experience of financial services customers.”
CaixaBank claims it is “the most innovative bank in the application of Artificial Intelligence to financial services in Spain.”
The entity has been “a pioneer worldwide in the training of conversational AI in Spanish and in the implementation of cognitive assistants to serve employees and customers.”
Today, CaixaBank is “applying the full power of AI to the development of tools for its managers and customers, as well as other strategic objectives, such as training its employees.”
As part of the co-innovation agreement between the two companies, CaixaBank and Microsoft will “define a series of training itineraries for professionals in the bank’s technical and business areas, including the AI Business School for Financial Services, a training program whose objective is acquire strategic knowledge about the impact of the application of Artificial Intelligence to financial services.”
Likewise, technical training will be “reinforced in the areas of cloud , security, data management and AI, in line with the specialization in technological careers that is promoted at CaixaBank Tech.”