ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AS A CATALYST FOR OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY IN FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

This article examines the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial sector, focusing on its impact on productivity enhancement and cost reduction. It highlights how AI technologies—such as machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), and computer vision—are transforming core financial operations, including fraud detection, credit scoring, customer service, trading, and compliance. Drawing on industry case studies and reports, the paper demonstrates that AI significantly improves operational efficiency by automating repetitive tasks, accelerating decision-making, and extracting insights from large datasets. Furthermore, AI contributes to cost optimisation through reduced labour requirements, lower compliance costs, and enhanced fraud prevention mechanisms.