Both regulators and clients could motivate banks to adopt artificial intelligence for greater efficiency gains in the coming years, an Amazon Web Services (AWS) executive has predicted, adding the trend could intensify the global race to embrace the cutting-edge technology.

Over the past few months, multinational banks have approached AWS about how to grow their business in innovative ways, said Shaown Nandi, vice-president of technology at the US cloud computing giant, in an interview with the South China Morning Post.

Though AI has already triggered massive lay-offs in the financial sector, industry surveys show the overall integration rate of the technology in the sector remains low.

Nandi said that based on his conversations with financial services providers, organisations were seeking ways to integrate AI into their services and provide customers with financial information as quickly as possible.

“All of these companies think about how AI can help them achieve outcomes for their end customers more quickly … and they want to do it within their existing budget,” he said.

Banking giants Standard Chartered and HSBC Holdings both made announcements recently that they would be replacing thousands of jobs with AI.