Transcription

• Speaker #0

  Welcome to FinTrends, the podcast series where we explore the hot trends and news in the financial sector with experts. Today, I am happy to welcome Richard Broadbent on the occasion of the UK Connect 2026, which is an SBS event and also a major event in the banking industry. And this event returns for its second edition on June 16th. Richard, hi.

• Speaker #1

  Hi.

• Speaker #0

  You are Head of Growth and Customer at SBS for UK and Ireland. Yeah. And you are here today to talk about AI-enabled digital transformation, which is a core pillar for SBS's AI-native strategy and also a key topic at UK Connect 2026. But before we go any further, can you please briefly introduce yourself?

• Speaker #1

  Sure. Thank you, Caroline. So Richard Broadbent, as you say, I'm the leader of CNG in the UK, which is a fairly, actually fairly new role for me. I've been in the position for only a couple of months, but I've been with SBS now for coming up to eight years in a number of different leadership roles and super excited to have the chance to host the Connect event in the UK in June.

• Speaker #0

  Congratulations.

• Speaker #1

  Thank you.

• Speaker #0

  So for the people who are not really familiar with the event, Can you please explain to us what's the spirit of the UK Connect 2026?

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, sure. We often talk about SBS as being a family. And I think the Connect event really embodies that. We have a lot of customers who have been with SBS now for 10, 20, 30 years. So to get everybody together in a single environment is a fantastic opportunity for us. It gives us a chance to take a step back as well from. the sort of everyday conversations that we have and focus a little bit more on some of the strategic industry topics. But as much as anything, it's just a time to spend quality time with our customers and partners in a really conducive environment to thinking long term and thinking about strategy and, as I say, trends in the industry.

• Speaker #0

  So what are going to be the key topics in 2026?

• Speaker #1

  So I think inevitably AI will be a key feature. I think in my working life, this is probably the most disruptive time that I've seen. So it would be, I think it would be difficult for us to host an event and not have AI as a core topic that will run through the event. But also importantly, we need to think about, you know, first of all, how AI will be delivered and the role that we have as leaders in rolling out AI across our organizations. But also then focusing on some of the other key topics that we will see. certainly over the course of the next 12 to 18 months.

• Speaker #0

  So you are hosting the Yuki Connect. Yeah. Can we expect any surprises this year?

• Speaker #1

  So I think, first of all, we've got a super cool venue. So really looking forward to inviting our customers along. I also think, and I was at the Connect event last year, and it was a tremendous, tremendous day. But I really do think the... Quality of the speakers that we have this year are absolutely fantastic, both from our customer base, but also externally as well. There'll be probably some surprises in terms of the organizations that we have on stage as well. But yeah, I think the thread of the event is fairly consistent. So we will have some keynote speeches. We will have some panel conversations. And lots of time for networking. But, you know, as I look at the agenda, I think there'll be a huge amount of discussion and value that we bring to the day overall.

• Speaker #0

  I look forward to it. UK Connect, it's all about helping financial institutions shape the future of digital transformation.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  And this year, it's a topic that really stands out, AI-enabled digital transformation.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  So when we say AI enabled digital transformation, can you explain what is it that we are really talking about?

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, sure. So I think if we take a step back and think about digital transformation, first of all, I mean, that's really about how do we change, improve and drive better processes and practices for both customers and employees through technology. So it's really about, you know, people talk a lot about. the shift in either the channels that customer uses or the tools that employees use within the organizations and over the past two, three, four years, there's been a lot of focus of financial organizations in using technology to support better journeys for customers and better journeys for employees. When we talk now about AI digital transformation, AI really does have the ability to drive significant change in both the services and the capability that we can offer through digital transformation, but also how those services are delivered as well. it's a real step change in you know when we think about things like personalization that's always been quite a difficult topic for a bank to get its arms around with AI the power of data it's now so much simpler for an organization to provide you services in a slightly different way so we can expect I think a rapid acceleration in some of the areas of digital transformation that banks have struggled with but also a rapid improvement as well in the services that are offered to customers and I say to some employees as well.

• Speaker #0

  From what I know, most banks are already experimenting with AI. So what is the difference between testing AI and actually change how the bank works day to day?

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, as you say, banks have been experimenting with AI for actually quite a long time. I still think from an industry perspective, sometimes we think AI is quite a recent innovation, but it has been around for quite a long time. And it's been put to use in a lot of use cases. I think fraud is probably a really good example. But the use cases have been very, very specific to certain topics. What we see now is the proliferation of AI. So making AI available to all employees to start with. but then being really laser focused on some of the services, whether it's, as I say, whether it's fraud, whether it's credit checking, whether it's personalization, and really starting to use the capability that AI can bring to improve some of those services.

• Speaker #0

  So if a bank really wants AI to work at scale, what are the foundations that have to be there first?

• Speaker #1

  That's a really good question, Caroline. I think there are probably two things. The first one is probably control. So, you know, I mentioned before that, you know, banks now or FIs are opening up AI to all their employees. And when you do that, you can create the potential for chaos in an organization where you have, you know, projects being spun up everywhere. And as I say, a lack of control in the environment. So I think probably the... The first thing is to have the right governance in place to make sure that, you know, there's a right focus from a project perspective and things are done in a controlled manner. And that's actually no different to how we operate with AI within SPS as well. The second thing is making sure that you absolutely have the right foundations from a technology perspective and particularly from a data perspective. If you don't have the right data, then the aim... AI models and services that you build won't work in the right way or they'll create incorrect results from an organizational perspective. And really that's the focus that SBS have had certainly over the last 12 or 18 months is really making sure that the data platform that we have is there and able to support AI as it starts to go through the phases of adoption. So they're probably the two things I would point out.

• Speaker #0

  And there is a truth universally acknowledged. It's that. banking runs on trust. So where should AI support humans rather than replace them, especially when it comes to decisions that really matter?

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, I think this is going to be one of the hot topics, but it's a hot topic now, but it will be a hot topic moving forward as well. And you're absolutely right. You know, trustee is so, so important to the relationship that a bank has with its customers. And anything that they do to erode that trust is, you know, will be seen as a negative backward step. So as AI becomes more prevalent within a financial institution, I think the early phases will be to augment human interaction. So, you know, where can it add value to a person that's having the interaction with an end customer? And that will be better access to data, perhaps better access to products that fit the customer that they're talking to. so they can offer a much improved service. I think over time, naturally, banks' organisations will change, but it's incredibly important when they do shift that that Your point about trust remains really important. So in the context of AI, you know, making sure that there's traceability, that everything is auditable, that, you know, banks can explain their interactions if customers have questions is super important. When you get to the point of AI perhaps taking a slightly more lead role in certain elements. But I don't think you will ever remove the need for that human interaction. People like speaking to people. They feel the trust that you get when you're having a human interaction. And that will always stay there. But it will probably pivot slightly from the conversations they have today to having more empowered conversations and perhaps slightly different ones in the future.

• Speaker #0

  From what you see in the industry, what is the biggest risk banks underestimate when it comes to rolling out AI at scale?

• Speaker #1

  So I think... The first point is, or the important point to make is that AI presents just a huge opportunity for all organisations, whether it's in financial services or other industries. But also because of that, that there are also, you know, potential negative connotations if it's not used in the right way. So ensuring that customers are protected in the right way. And it goes back to your point about trust and making sure that that trust isn't broken with the introduction of AI. is probably one of the key things. So I would probably say that, you know, to be able to scale, you need to choose the right use cases. You need to make sure that data is enabled in a way that will support those use cases. And then the third thing that it's done in a controlled way with the right governance structure around it to ensure that the outcomes that the banks create from a customer perspective or an employee perspective are as the organisation would expect. So that would probably be the three things I think would be the risk in scaling up AI at the moment.

• Speaker #0

  In the industry, there's a lot of talk about AI-ready systems. Can you explain to me what is it?

• Speaker #1

  Sure. Being AI-ready is really all about being, as it says somewhat in the title, being ready to engage with AI at scale. And there are different stages and you will see this and you'll hear this in conversations as well, Caroline, that the first major step is making sure that your core systems that are working with AI are rock solid in terms of their ability to interact. And quite often that's done from a data reporting perspective. So making sure that you can analyze data and expose that data to third party systems quite quickly, securely. but in a really meaningful way. The next phase of that will then be when we start to think about the Gentic AI, how third parties start to interact and use that data to create different services for customers and again for employees. So readiness is really making sure that they are platform enabled, data enabled to support the activity that will support the use cases that the banks will want to look at moving forward.

• Speaker #0

  So it's very important for a bank to have it to make AI work properly in an organization?

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, there are two elements of this. People will talk about AI native solutions and AI ready solutions. AI native is everything that's being built and delivered at the moment. AI ready is really the core that will drive AI adoption short term. And it's really making sure that the core platforms are ready and able to support the level of interaction that you will have with AI moving forward. So I mentioned data has been a critical element of that. I mean, it's the foundation of performance AI. So. AI-ready solutions need to be able to organize, structure the data in a way that can then support the AI models that will be using that data moving forward. That will progress and typically at the moment it focuses on more using data for reporting and providing deeper insight into either customers or interactions. That will flip moving forward to enable support for agentic AI. much more specific interactions with data sets to perform tasks but fundamentally the the need for your core systems to be ai ready and to be able to support the data that will enable AI models to be successful and operate in the right way and produce the right results is critical. And that's what we talk about when we mean AI ready.

• Speaker #0

  So to conclude this podcast, for a banking leader listening right now, what should they focus on in 2026 to make AI transformation real and not just a buzzword?

• Speaker #1

  So I think, and it's not just in financial organizations, these. This is true across the board. It's really, really important to focus on the right use cases that deliver value. You know, I mentioned before, you've got key stakeholders throughout the introduction of AI and making sure that, you know, the use cases that organizations focus on deliver the right value is super important. You know, if it seemed to be delivering positive value, people engage. If it's not, then it creates a bit of a negative spiral. Thank you. I think that has to be the most important thing from an industry perspective. I think the second thing, and again, this applies to any organisation, is that you drive AI adoption from the top of the organisation as well as the bottom. I think with other either disruptive technologies or just general disruptions that we've seen within financial services over the last 20 years, it's kind of been OK to allow the Thank you. initiatives to be picked up in the roots of the organization to be driven but I think with AI it absolutely has to be driven from the top down as well so that the whole employee base can see how leadership teams are engaging with AI the value that they see is being delivered and their role models for the rest of the organization from an adoption perspective so so I think taking that real leadership leadership position is is going to be super important for them as well

• Speaker #0

  Thank you so much, Richard, for being with us. And I wish you good luck and an amazing moment at the UK Connect.

• Speaker #1

  Thank you very much. It's been an absolute pleasure to be with you.