NVIDIA’s latest survey “State of AI in Financial Services” reveals how AI is revolutionising financial services—boosting revenue, cutting costs, and unlocking new business opportunities. With 70% of firms seeing AI-driven growth, applications in trading, customer engagement, and risk management are surging.
A recent survey by NVIDIA highlights how the financial services industry is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance revenue, reduce costs, and unlock new business opportunities. The findings reveal that organisations are moving beyond experimentation to successfully implement AI, marking a significant milestone in the sector’s technological evolution.
NVIDIA’s fifth annual State of AI in Financial Services report underscores how financial institutions are consolidating their AI efforts, focusing on core applications, and demonstrating increased proficiency in AI capabilities. This shift reflects a growing maturity in the industry’s approach to AI adoption.
AI boosts revenue and cuts costs
Financial firms investing in AI are reaping measurable benefits, including higher revenue and significant cost savings.
Nearly 70% of survey respondents reported that AI has driven a revenue increase of at least 5%, with a notable rise in those experiencing a 10-20% boost. Additionally, over 60% of respondents stated that AI has helped reduce annual costs by 5% or more. Nearly a quarter of those surveyed are planning to use AI to create new business opportunities and revenue streams.
The most profitable generative AI applications, in terms of return on investment (ROI), are trading and portfolio optimisation, accounting for 25% of responses. This is closely followed by customer experience and engagement at 21%. These figures highlight the tangible impact of AI in transforming key business areas and delivering financial gains.
Generative AI expands its reach
Generative AI has emerged as the second-most-used AI workload in the financial services industry, following data analytics. Its applications have expanded significantly, ranging from enhancing customer experience to optimising trading and portfolio management.
Notably, the use of generative AI for customer experience—particularly through chatbots and virtual assistants—has more than doubled, rising from 25% to 60%. This growth is driven by the increasing availability, cost efficiency, and scalability of generative AI technologies, which enable more sophisticated and accurate digital assistants to improve customer interactions.
Over half of the financial professionals surveyed are now using generative AI to enhance the speed and accuracy of critical tasks such as document processing and report generation.
Financial institutions are also exploring the potential of agentic AI—systems that utilise vast amounts of data from diverse sources and employ advanced reasoning to autonomously solve complex, multi-step problems. Banks and asset managers can leverage agentic AI to enhance risk management, automate compliance processes, optimise investment strategies, and personalise customer services.
Overcoming challenges in AI adoption in finance
The survey indicates that barriers to AI adoption are gradually diminishing. Half of the management respondents confirmed they have deployed their first generative AI service or application, with an additional 28% planning to do so within the next six months. Furthermore, the number of respondents citing a lack of AI budget has decreased by 50%, signalling a stronger commitment to AI development and resource allocation.
Challenges such as data issues, privacy concerns, and insufficient data for model training are also becoming less prevalent. These improvements reflect the industry’s growing expertise and enhanced data management practices.
As financial services firms allocate more resources and refine their data management strategies, they are better positioned to harness AI for improved operational efficiency, security, and innovation across various business functions.
Advanced AI fuels innovation
Recognising the transformative potential of AI, companies are taking proactive steps to build AI factories—specialised accelerated computing platforms equipped with full-stack AI software. These platforms can be deployed through cloud providers or on-premises, enabling firms to focus on high-value AI use cases that enhance customer service, boost revenue, and reduce costs.
By leveraging advanced infrastructure and software, companies can streamline the development and deployment of AI models, positioning themselves to harness the power of agentic AI.
With industry leaders predicting at least a twofold return on investment (ROI) from AI initiatives, financial institutions remain highly motivated to implement their most impactful AI use cases, driving both efficiency and innovation across the sector.
Himani Verma is a seasoned content writer and SEO expert, with experience in digital media. She has held various senior writing positions at enterprises like CloudTDMS (Synthetic Data Factory), Barrownz Group, and ATZA. Himani has also been Editorial Writer at Hindustan Time, a leading Indian English language news platform. She excels in content creation, proofreading, and editing, ensuring that every piece is polished and impactful. Her expertise in crafting SEO-friendly content for multiple verticals of businesses, including technology, healthcare, finance, sports, innovation, and more.
