KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian banks and development financial institutions (DFIs) are rapidly adopting artificial intelligence (AI), but many remain cautious about using AI for high-impact business decisions. This is according to a new study by the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers (AICB), Ecosystm and the AICB Chief Risk Officers’ Forum.

The ‘AICB-Ecosystm AI in Practice: How Malaysia’s Banks & DFIs are Adopting and Governing AI’ report found that AI is increasingly being deployed in areas such as Know Your Customer onboarding, fraud detection, anti-money laundering, and counter-financing of terrorism, and employee productivity.

“(However,) only 25 per cent of respondents trust AI-generated outputs enough to act on them in key business decisions,” AICB said in a statement.

Launched on the sidelines of AICB’s 4th Malaysian Banking Conference and 2nd Bank Audit Conference, the study drew on responses from 87 senior leaders across Malaysian commercial, digital, and Islamic banks, as well as development financial institutions, and was supported by insights from executive roundtables and interviews.