At EBAday 2023, Claudia Olsson, CEO and founder, Stellar Capacity and Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, declared that many of “the structures that we have today are not adjusted for the developments in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and generative AI. I believe that in the coming years, we will have to rethink our global architecture and how it’s developed, how decisions are made, and how we collectively decide about potential opportunities.”

That time is upon us, as evidenced by the EBAday 2024 agenda, where these topics are now central themes across session streams. It is no secret that banks across Europe have bought in to the idea of cloud, but it is evident that the technology is not being used to its full potential – despite widespread optimism around its flexibility and scalability. Payments practitioners will have to ask themselves if payments-as-a-service is a viable model to consider.

Further to this, with the rise of ChatGPT, AI continues to be a hot topic in the financial services industry, but the killer app of generative AI is yet to be found. While PSPs have historically used rule-based AI, such as machine learning and robotics process automation, new forms of AI such as large language models, will allow players to differentiate.

However, the war for AI dominance continues as US tech giants rush to prove their position as leaders in the field in the race to develop generative AI technology. For example, in 2023 AI has led to a 31% increase in revenue for Microsoft’s Azure. It becomes evident that investment into AI is part of the future, and financial institutions need to keep pace.

How the cloud will continue to play a big part in the ongoing digital transformation in banking and payments is yet to be seen. Figure out what the best strategy for banks to streamline their operations, increase scale and improve time to market, is at EBAday in Lisbon, Portugal on 18-19 June 2024. Register here.