The game changer
As AI penetrates deeper into banking, institutions look past its novelty to make sure their investment yields value.
The integration of artificial intelligence into the financial sector is moving beyond the experimental stage as the new technology becomes a cornerstone of modern banking operations. Take DBS Bank, for example, whose former CEO Piyush Gupta proclaims AI an “absolute game changer.”
DBS has deployed over 800 AI models across 350 use cases, projected to yield over $1 billion Singapore dollars (about $778 million) in economic impact in 2025 and reflecting a broader industry trend. Banks are revolutionizing everything from treasury and cash management to fraud detection and client-facing services, driven by AI’s promise to deliver value to the institution and its clients.
Catering to this strategic approach is Smartstream Air, an AI-driven software-as-a-service platform launched in 2019, which aims to help financial institutions derive better insights from data and make them actionable. The latest version of Air, version 9.0, introduced last year, includes Air Data and Air Cash modules. These offer scalable, AI-powered data processing and reconciliation, critical for handling growing data volumes, especially from low-value, high-volume payment transactions.
“This enables diverse dataset analysis, enhancing data quality and matching,” says Smartstream CEO Akbar Jaffer. “Applications range from traditional domains such as cash and securities to general business needs.”
AI is becoming a fundamental data-processing tool, he observes, “When data is ingested, our AI engine recommends ways to enhance and enrich its quality. It also helps define matching criteria. The AI engine learns from user activity, identifies recurring issues, and offers suggestions while monitoring for discrepancies.”
