Finance

For financial institutions, generative AI integration starts now

Published

1 year ago

November 1, 2024

For financial institutions, generative AI integration starts now

As published in BankingExchange.com

Today, banks of all sizes have access to a considerable amount of customer data that’s processed and stored on a daily basis, from credit history to buying activity. While industry innovators have always used this data to optimize services and enhance customer experiences, the emerging technology landscape presents new opportunities to take these data resources to new heights, particularly in the realm of generative AI (GenAI).

Today, more than 50% of tech leaders within the financial services industry are interested in exploring AI applications, signaling a trend of increased adoption of this technology. Although many use cases may focus on customer experience applications, operational improvement is also an area of high value. In this environment, bank risk and compliance professionals have a unique opportunity to incorporate meaningful, measured GenAI capabilities into their workflows to help them manage risk, maintain compliance, and safely grow their business.

Increasing GenAI use cases

Every risk or compliance professional can relate to poring over hundreds of pages of regulatory documents to not only identify new laws and regulatory obligations to which they are subject, but to help provide insights on how those developments impact their front-line business partners and broader business operations.

As large language models (LLMs) continue to advance, GenAI is emerging as a key tool in helping bank compliance professionals stay more current on the regulatory landscape, and ultimately optimize their risk and compliance programs. This capability stems from GenAI’s power to generate profound insights from new information and even recommend next steps based on historical actions. With nearly 70% of financial leaders denoting technology investment as a crucial step towards managing new regulatory developments, GenAI provides an immediate use case in helping professionals not only identify business obligations from new or existing regulations, but to communicate the impact of changes to frontline business leaders.

Across industries, staffing shortages force companies to “do more with less,” leveraging their limited resources for maximum efficiency. Financial institutions are certainly not excluded from this struggle, and resource constraints may be even more pressing as some of the largest banks strive to process millions of transactions each day. GenAI’s power to process information and aid decision-making presents an immediate opportunity to automate many of the manual tasks comprising employee workloads. From helping evaluate the impact of a new regulation on risk ratings to identifying vulnerabilities and suggesting controls to safeguard banking operations, GenAI, if successfully implemented, can augment human decision-making, allowing employees to deliver higher-value work.

Lastly, GenAI may complement human insights when challenges abound. While the human brain is excellent at reacting to immediate information and making decisions, GenAI can take a bird’s-eye view of an entire information landscape to surface insights hidden to the naked eye. This capability is useful for pairing customer caches with historical trend data to inform risk assessments or flag anomalous transactions indicative of potential fraud.

Say hello to the AI steward

GenAI’s potential to help compliance professions see around blind spots and better anticipate and avoid risk is promising. However, after the initial enthusiasm subsides, a daunting implementation journey remains, with no clear path to integration. At this stage, many chief compliance officers may become anxious about navigating GenAI integration complexities, but therein lies a silver lining: one needn’t embark on this journey alone.

This exploratory phase represents the best time for chief compliance and risk officers to assemble a team of “AI stewards.” These professionals, drawn from all areas of the business, will be instrumental in crafting a GenAI implementation strategy and providing insight into which business processes would benefit from GenAI’s automative and predictive capabilities. This early stage is also an optimal time to involve legal, client relations, and even HR to better understand the ethical and legal considerations of both internal and external GenAI integration, especially as privacy and data stewardship come to the forefront.

While tech and IT leaders may have the most hands-on role in a bank’s GenAI rollout, incorporating team members from across business functions is equally important— it may come as a surprise as to where your “AI allies” are hiding!

Assessing risks and devising best practices

No technological integration is worth exposing a bank’s sensitive information to potential hackers or leaving data open to compromise, and GenAI integration is no exception. However, by employing the latest guidance, risk and compliance professionals can support a secure rollout.

While federal guidance like last year’s landmark Executive Order on AI safety and security is a valuable starting point for general risk evaluation, the breakneck speed of AI innovation requires stakeholders to get ahead of federal regulation to remain competitive.

State-level legislation coming out of Colorado and California may provide more comprehensive guidance, especially as these states deploy GenAI tools for public services. Across the pond, European regulations such as the AI Act are years ahead of early US frameworks and may serve as a helpful guide.

It must be noted that big data resources—which make large banks especially excellent GenAI integration candidates—remain the central reason why careful guidance is needed: AI models can exert a significant impact on the millions of customers served by these institutions every day. For example, GenAI models trained on biased data sets are particularly problematic for financial institutions, as functions like credit scoring or underwriting can easily be influenced by underlying prejudices embedded in the model.

Moreover, as AI-generated content becomes even more conversational and widespread, the importance of early disclosure of how GenAI may influence their products and services is paramount. Risk and compliance professionals should consult their company’s legal team to ensure these disclosures are made at the earliest possible stage.

Conclusion

In this age of digital disruption, banks must move fast to keep up with evolving industry demands. Generative AI is quickly emerging as a strategic tool to carve out a competitive niche. With unique insight into a bank’s most resource-heavy functions, risk and compliance professionals have a valuable role in identifying the best areas for GenAI automation.

Kris Stewart, JD, CRCM, is a senior director in the compliance product management team at Wolters Kluwer. Reach her at LinkedIn.

Finance

5 takeaways from 2025’s end-of-year campaign finance reports

Published

1 hour ago

February 3, 2026

Press Room

5 takeaways from 2025’s end-of-year campaign finance reports

President Trump stockpiled millions into his super PAC, while a handful of GOP groups outraised their Democratic counterparts in the last stretch of 2025 as Republicans brace for a midterm cycle shaping up to be much like the anti-Trump 2018 midterms.

Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., has more than $300 million in the bank to start off 2026, according to recent campaign filings, while the Republican National Committee (RNC) outraised the Democrats, who are working to pay off debt from the 2024 cycle.

Yet there are some bright spots for Democrats, too: Many of the party’s Senate candidates have outperformed their Republican contenders as the party looks to make inroads in the upper chamber.

Here are five takeaways from the last campaign filing reports of 2025:

Trump stockpiles millions

The president’s super PAC is starting off the year with $304 million — an impressive sum of money that demonstrates Republicans will not be without resources as they look to keep their narrow House majority and retain control of the Senate.

The super PAC’s latest filing, which covers Dec. 23 through Dec. 31, showed the president received $7.5 million from the pro-Trump dark money group Securing American Greatness Inc. and $1 million from businessman and Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly, among others.

Other prominent figures who have donated to Trump’s super PAC over the past year include $12.5 million each from OpenAI president and co-founder Greg Bockman and his wife, $11 million from entrepreneur and investor Konstantin Sokolov, and $4 million from defense contractor chief executive Michelle D’Souza.

A number of prominent businesspeople and donors have given to Trump or his aligned entities, particularly for his construction of the East Wing ballroom, as different industries have looked to curry favor with the president.

RNC holds large cash-on-hand advantage over DNC

The RNC outraised the Democratic National Committee in 2025, $172 million compared to $146 million. In December, the RNC edged out its Democratic counterparts at $16 million to roughly $13 million.

The Republican Party also starts off 2026 with a nearly $100 million cash-on-hand advantage over Democrats: The GOP has $95 million in the bank to start off the year, while Democrats have $14 million cash on hand, in addition to close to $18 million in debt.

Democrats have steadily been trying to pay off debt that was accrued during former Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign in 2024. Donors in the aftermath of the 2024 election also curbed their spending to different groups amid frustration over how the presidential cycle played out and as the party looked to reset itself heading into 2026.

Across the board, however, GOP groups like the House Republican and Senate Republican campaign arms posted larger 2025 hauls than their Democratic counterparts. However, the cash on hand for the House and Senate Democratic campaign arms are nearly equal to or have narrowly surpassed their GOP counterparts.

Democratic Senate candidates largely outraise GOP challengers

If there’s one financial silver lining for Democrats right now, it’s that the party’s Senate challengers in competitive races have largely outraised their Republican contenders.

In Georgia, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) — seen as the most vulnerable Senate Democrat up for reelection this cycle — raised close to $10 million between October and December from his campaign. He starts off 2026 with close to $26 million in the bank.

His GOP opponents trail far behind. Former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley’s campaign raised $1.1 million and has $2.1 million cash on hand. Rep. Buddy Carter’s campaign (R-Ga.) raised $1.7 million, which includes a $1 million loan to himself, and starts off this year with nearly $4.2 million. Rep. Mike Collins’s campaign (R-Ga.) raised about $825,000 and has $2.3 million cash on hand.

In Ohio, former Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D-Ohio) campaign raised $7.3 million in the last quarter of 2025 and has nearly $10 million in the bank. Meanwhile, Sen. Jon Husted’s (R-Ohio) campaign raised $1.5 million between October and December and starts off the year with close to $6 million in the bank.

Musk starts spending ahead of midterms

Elon Musk has resumed pumping money toward GOP groups heading into the midterms, less than a year after he signaled he would pull back from political spending. The Tesla CEO gave $5 million each to two super PACs helmed by House Republican and Senate Republican leadership.

All told, Musk has given $20 million to the two political groups in 2025, highlighting how the former Trump adviser is poised to play an important role again in the upcoming election cycle for Republicans.

Musk spent millions in last year’s Wisconsin Supreme Court races, yet the liberal candidate handily won the vacant seat on the state’s high court. However, his spending helped level the playing field for Republicans.

While his spending will help the GOP, Democrats are sure to seize on his involvement, too. In the past, they have featured Musk in their advertising, such as showcasing his chainsaw-wielding appearance during last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), in an effort to boost turnout among their voters.

Filings offer insight into contested Senate primaries

The campaign finance filings also offer some clues about the fundraising strength of candidates in contested Senate primaries.

Progressive oyster farmer Graham Platner, who was mired in controversy last year over past social media posts, raised $4.6 million in the last quarter of 2025 from his campaign and has $3.7 million in the bank. Meanwhile, centrist Maine Gov. Janet Mills’s (D) campaign raised $2.7 million in the last quarter and starts off this year with $1.3 million.

In Texas, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D) and state Rep. James Talarico (D) posted similar fundraising hauls — $6.5 million and nearly $6.9 million, respectively. Most of Crockett’s haul came from transfers from her House campaign. Talarico’s campaign also posted a cash on hand advantage — $7.1 million to Crockett’s $5.6 million.

Finance

Inheritance warning as Aussie kids face $320,000 tax hit: ‘Completely gone’

Published

14 hours ago

February 2, 2026

Press Room

Inheritance warning as Aussie kids face 0,000 tax hit: ‘Completely gone’

If you inherit your mum or dad’s super fund, you can pay tax of up to 32 per cent. (Source: Getty)

Australians risk losing a huge amount in superannuation inheritance due to little-known tax rules. Older generations will transfer trillions of dollars in wealth to younger generations in the coming decades, with much of this money to come via superannuation and property assets.

Most families don’t realise that their kids could lose a third of their inheritance to superannuation tax. But Pivot Wealth financial adviser and Yahoo Finance contributor Ben Nash said this tax could be “completely avoidable” with a bit of strategy.

When someone passes away, their superannuation is split into two main parts: the tax-free component and the taxable component.

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If the money goes to adult kids or anyone who is not financially dependent on the person passing down the super, the taxable portion gets hit with a “death tax” of up to 32 per cent.

“On a $1 million balance, that means $320,000 that can be completely gone,” Nash explained.

The biggest component of most people’s super funds is the taxable component because it’s made up of any compulsory employment super contributions, salary sacrifice or tax-deductible contributions, and the growth and earnings on these funds.

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The good news is it is possible to reduce or avoid the tax altogether.

“The fix here is what’s called a withdrawal and recontribution strategy. It’s a pretty simple concept, although the rules are a little bit complicated,” Nash explained.

“Basically, while your parents are still alive and eligible, they can withdraw some or all of their super, pay no tax on the withdrawal, and then put it back into their super as a non-concessional or after-tax contribution.

“That shifts their super balance from taxable to completely tax-free. When you do that gradually over time, you can save literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in future tax.”

Your parents would need to be over the age of 60 and meet a condition of release (like retirement) so they can withdraw part of their super tax-free.

The rules around withdrawing and contributing to your super fund, along with how much you put in, are complicated, so it is important to get financial advice from a professional.

The Productivity Commission previously estimated that $3.5 trillion would be passed on from Aussies aged 60 and over by 2050. More recent JBWere figures put the figure at $5.4 trillion over the next 20 years.

Finance

Trending tickers: Oracle, Disney, BYD, AstraZeneca and Endeavour Mining

Published

1 day ago

February 2, 2026

Press Room

Trending tickers: Oracle, Disney, BYD, AstraZeneca and Endeavour Mining

Tech company Oracle (ORCL) said on Sunday that it planned to raise $45bn (£32.8bn) to $50bn in 2026 to fund the expansion of its cloud infrastructure business.

The company said that it planned to achieve this funding target using a combination of debt and equity financing.

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“Oracle is raising money in order to build additional capacity to meet the contracted demand from our largest Oracle Cloud Infrastructure customers, including AMD (AMD), Meta (META), Nvidia (NVDA), OpenAI, TikTok, xAI and others,” it said in a statement, according to a Reuters report.

Oracle (ORCL) shares hovered just below the flatline in pre-market trading on Monday morning and are trading 3.4% in the red over one year.

Media and entertainment giant Disney (DIS) was in focus on Monday morning, following a Bloomberg report that it was close to picking theme-park division chairman Josh D’Amaro as the company’s next CEO.

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According to the Bloomberg report, Disney’s (DIS) board is aligning on promoting D’Amaro into the role and will vote on naming a new CEO in the coming week, citing people familiar with the matter. D’Amaro would take over from Bob Iger, who returned as CEO in 2022, having served in the role from 2005 to 2020.

Disney (DIS) had not responded to Yahoo Finance UK’s request for comment at the time of writing.

The company is set to report its fiscal first quarter earnings later in the day on Monday. Disney (DIS) shares hovered just below the flatline in pre-market trading on Monday morning and are 0.6% in the red over one year.

In Asia, shares in Hong Kong-listed electric vehicle (EV) company BYD slid 7.3% on Monday, after reporting a drop in sales in January.

BYD (1211.HK) said on Sunday that it had sold 210,051 vehicles in January, which was 30.1% lower than 300,538 it sold in the same period last year.

The company sold 83,249 battery electric vehicles last month, which was 33.6% lower than January last year and it delivered 122,269 plug-in hybrid EVs, down 28.5%.

Pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca (AZN.L) will begin trading its ordinary shares on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Monday for the first time.

AstraZeneca (AZN.L), which is listed on the UK’s FTSE 100 (^FTSE) and Sweden’s OMX Stockholm 30 (^OMX), previously had American depositary shares (ADS) listed on the Nasdaq (^IXIC).

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