For a small team trusted with a critical part of a bank's business, experimenting with emerging technology that could change everything - but which carries risks of failure - may sound bold. Yet this was the response to the hype around generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) from Ahmed Uppal, Head of Internal Audit for London Branch of Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation (MUTB).
A key objective for Ahmed’s team is to be “tech forward” in all they do and he was very keen for them to be early adopters of GenAI when they began their journey in 2023. He understood GenAI's potential to transform the delivery, and value, of the insights his team generates - insights that help the bank's management understand and assess potential risks and ensure and demonstrate compliance.
Ahmed says: “The most important thing is to create a safe environment for your team to experiment and innovate. That sense of curiosity and innovation will carry your teams forward much further into your future.” To this end, Ahmed has led through change over the last year, working with PwC on GenAI pilots.
New directions for analysis
Ahmed’s team usually analyses large amounts of information and data using traditional techniques - for example, using Excel for data analytics coupled with extensive substantive testing. Ahmed explains: “GenAI offered a different solution, which is to feed the information to the tool and then ask focused and targeted questions and see the outcome of it.” This new approach can accelerate processes and pave the way for better insights.
Conducting audits can involve weeks of hands-on work and research. Ahmed’s team reviews lengthy policy and procedure documents, investment trade data and more, for the answers they need. Time doesn't allow the team to examine all of the data types and formats available, so they usually examine a select sample. But in one case, using GenAI tools, Ahmed’s team was able to test 100% of a sample in a matter of weeks - a job that would otherwise take months for relatively less assurance.
Better informed insights
To compare the difference between traditional Excel-based methods and tech powered GenAI solutions, Ahmed and his team conducted side-by-side auditing tests with PwC using both techniques. They found GenAI was able to assess large amounts of data significantly faster. More promising was the tool's ability to produce unexpected insights that opened up new directions for the team's analysis.
“It presents an opportunity to challenge the knowledge that you have,” Ahmed says. “There were instances where the outcomes led us to ask different questions, which we would not have asked otherwise.” The test results, he adds, show GenAI can help audit teams look at much more data, much more efficiently - freeing up time to use their knowledge and judgement to produce better insights and make more informed recommendations.
Ahmed says early, promising results have inspired his team to think about other ways GenAI could benefit the bank - possibly by helping with risk assessments, planning and continuous monitoring for changing business conditions. They’re excited by the possibilities, and Ahmed is proud of their enthusiasm in embracing the potential of GenAI. He says: “The most important thing we did was to see this as an investment. Creating a safe environment for a team to explore and innovate is critical to succeeding in the use of this technology.”
The contributions by Ahmed Uppal in this article and video are his personal views only and therefore do not necessarily represent the views of Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation (MUTB). MUTB is not responsible for the content or any decisions made based on such information.
