Not sure where to begin with AI? Start here.

I’ve heard the same concern from bank executives and board members across the country:

“We know AI is important—but we don’t know what to do with it.”

Fair. You don’t need a team of data scientists or a multi-million-dollar budget to start exploring how AI can improve efficiency, customer experience, and risk management.

Here are 5 starter projects, listed from simple to more advanced, that can help you dip your toes in—and build organizational confidence as you go.

  1. AI Chatbot for Internal Knowledge Base

Goal: Let staff ask common questions (“What’s our HELOC rate?” “How can I reset a digital banking customer’s password?”) and get instant answers.
Impact: Less time searching for documents, smoother onboarding, and fewer calls to Ops.
Tip: You can start with Microsoft 365 tools and existing SharePoint content—no fancy integration needed.

  1. Loan Narrative Generator

Goal: Automatically draft credit memos or loan narratives based on structured data (financials, purpose, collateral).
Impact: Speeds up underwriting, improves consistency, and reduces reliance on “the one person who writes well.”
Caution: Requires careful validation, but even a “first draft” can save hours.

  1. Financial Report Prep Assistant

Goal: Use AI to analyze financial data and draft sections of regulatory and Board reports.
Impact: Eases the burden on finance teams, especially at quarter-end.
Status: Emerging use case—good candidate for pilot with a consultant or tech partner.

  1. Fraud Pattern Detection

Goal: Train a model to flag unusual transaction patterns in real time.
Impact: Faster fraud detection, fewer false positives, better customer protection.
Note: Requires solid historical data and is often best done with a vendor partner.

  1. AI-Powered Product Cross-Sell Engine

Goal: Identify which customers are most likely to adopt a new product or service (e.g., credit card, CD, mortgage).
Impact: Higher campaign response rates, better personalization, and stronger ROI.
Complexity: Higher. Requires customer segmentation, transaction history, and marketing integration.

Final Thought:

You don’t need to launch all five at once. Start small. Pick one that aligns with a pain point your team feels today.

Because in banking, as in life, progress beats perfection.

Curious which of these is easiest to pilot in your institution? Just reach out to me—I’m happy to talk through options.

 

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