Filipinos ready for artificial intelligence, digital banking — Unisys

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino consumers are more willing to embrace new bank services based on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning than many of the country’s neighboring countries in Asia Pacific, Unisys Corp. said.

The company said a new research into the Philippine banking industry revealed Filipinos are the most willing to support data sharing in an open banking environment, but only if privacy and security concerns are addressed.

The study, “Unisys APAC Banking Insights – Banking on the CX Factor” provides insights into the attitudes of banking customers in the Philippines, Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Taiwan.

This year’s report explores how consumers feel about banks using AI to assess eligibility for credit cards and home loans, as well as sentiment toward banks sharing data with non-bank entities to offer new services.

Of the five countries surveyed, Philippine bank customers are the most frustrated by long bank queues, cited by 53 percent of Filipinos surveyed.

Filipinos are the least annoyed by having to repeat themselves to different bank representatives or from one channel – phone, internet or branch – to another.

Meanwhile, the proportion of Filipinos annoyed by their credit card being frozen or cancelled due to a suspected fraudulent transaction has fallen by two-thirds from nine percent.

“With bank queues remaining the top annoyance for Filipino bank customers, there is a huge opportunity for Philippine banks to move more customer interactions to digital channels, including mobile,” Unisys Asia Pacific vice president for financial services Richard Parker said.

“In addition to relieving pressure on the branches, artificial intelligence and machine learning can help banks make quick decisions and capture intelligence about customers to offer them more personalized and relevant services,” he added.

The survey findings suggest that Filipinos are very willing to embrace tech innovations to enable digital bank services.

More than half or 52 percent of Filipinos are comfortable with their banks using software and algorithms to assess online credit card applications. When applying for a home loan this level of comfort falls to 41 percent, with 50 percent not comfortable.

Even so, Filipinos recorded the highest level of comfort to apply for a home loan online of the five countries surveyed.