Today I joined ECO and KPMG Portugal to discuss AI with the banking sector. My provocative take? Most banks are underestimating the tectonic shift of this new AI era 🌊
How AI changes the banking operating model
The winners in AI aren't just "bolting copilots" onto old workflows. They're building a Digital Twin: a parallel operation that reimagines workflows from scratch, runs on agentic improvement loops through the night, and doubles reliability every 7 months. Moves at AI speed.
The banks that thrive will think big first: connect siloed data, modernize to API-first, and build an AI factory routing intelligence 24/7. Customer experience and profits will follow an intelligence flywheel. Neobanks such as Revolut are well positioned to play this AI game.
When the AI agent owns the customer decision
Here is where the uncomfortable question for banks lives. Financial decisions are increasingly going to start inside an AI agent that works through the night, not inside a bank's app. When you wake up, the decision has already been made and the paperwork is done. The relationship with the customer no longer lives where the bank thinks it does:
If you've seen OpenClaw in action, this is not science fiction. It is why the interface between a bank and its customer can no longer be taken for granted. The prize belongs to the banks that rewire their operations to be present inside that agentic world. Time to change.