Introduction to Banorte’s AI Strategy
Banorte, one of Mexico’s largest financial institutions, has centered its Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy on three main pillars: enhancing customer service through personalized products and services, attracting new clients who are currently unbanked, and fraud prevention.
Personalization through Customer Data
Francisco Martha, Banorte’s General Director of Digital Business Development, highlighted in a Norte Digital podcast that the first AI focus area involves processing all customer information and context to improve communication. This personalization aims to tailor products and services to individual clients’ needs.
Attracting New Clients
The second AI focus area is to identify methods for capturing clients who have not yet joined the financial system. Martha emphasized that this includes automating internal processes, implementing chatbots for customer support in call centers, and exploring other innovative solutions.
Fraud Prevention
Martha stressed that the third AI focus area is fraud prevention, which he believes holds significant potential due to the shorter cycles required to adapt AI models.
Open Industry vs. Open Banking
In a conversation with Ed McLaughlin, Mastercard’s Chief Technology Officer, Martha emphasized that Banorte promotes an open industry rather than just open banking. This approach encourages data sharing not only among financial institutions but also with other sectors like retail and hospitality, ultimately benefiting users’ experiences.
“We aim to exchange information not just between financial institutions but also with retailers, hotels… We’re pushing for a more open industry than just open banking. We’re also advocating for compensation chambers to standardize and create interoperability among them,” Martha explained.
QR Code Payments: A Growing Challenge
Martha discussed Mexico’s financial inclusion progress, noting the growth in real-time payments (through SPEI), debit and credit cards, and electronic wallets. However, he acknowledged that QR code payments have not seen significant growth.
“The central bank has CoDi and DiMo, both real-time, account-to-account payments that transfer funds in five seconds. Yet, we haven’t managed to promote it, even though the entire ecosystem is growing. This requires further study,” Martha said.
Key Questions and Answers
- What is Banorte’s AI strategy focus? Banorte’s AI strategy focuses on three main areas: customer personalization, attracting new clients, and fraud prevention.
- What does Banorte mean by an ‘open industry’? An open industry, according to Banorte, encourages data sharing among financial institutions and other sectors like retail and hospitality to enhance user experiences.
- Why are QR code payments a challenge for Banorte? Despite the growth in real-time payments and other digital financial tools, Banorte has not successfully promoted QR code payments, which require further study and exploration.
