Agentic AI: A game-changer for banking and capital markets
What if the solution to the challenges faced by banking and capital markets organizations didn’t solely lie in new regulatory frameworks or infrastructure upgrades but in advanced systems capable of learning, adapting, and evolving? Agentic AI – the cutting-edge frontier of artificial intelligence – holds the promise of transforming the financial sector as we know it.
For an industry grappling with tightening profit margins, evolving customer expectations, regulatory compliance complexities, and increasing cybersecurity risks, agentic AI offers not just a solution but a springboard for innovation, operational resilience, customer-centricity, and sustainable growth.
The complex landscape of banking and capital markets
The banking and capital markets industry stands at a crossroads—confronting rapid disruption and enduring challenges. Shifting customer expectations, relentless demands of digital transformation, and ever-intensifying regulatory scrutiny make the environment more complex than ever. Alongside this, the rise of fintechs and digital-native players is expanding the ecosystem, accelerating innovation, and raising the bar for customer experience. Legacy systems constraints and escalating cyber risks further compound the challenges.
Institutions are struggling with operational inefficiencies from legacy systems, demand for hyper-personalized digital experiences, and the massive cost of regulatory compliance. Unsurprisingly, financial leaders recognize that innovation is not optional—but the real transformation requires strategic execution.
Agentic AI as a strategic imperative
Unlike traditional AI, which is designed for narrow, single-task automation, Agentic AI dynamically adapts to complex workflows. It combines machine intelligence with human oversight, enabling systems to learn continuously, make proactive decisions, and optimize operations at scale.
By 2028, Gartner predicts Agentic AI will autonomously drive 15% of day-to-day corporate decisions and be embedded in one-third of enterprise applications. Already, organizations are realizing measurable impact—enhancing customer experiences, strengthening risk management, and improving fraud detection.
EXL’s 2024 Enterprise AI Study: Bridging Strategy and Operations reinforces this momentum, revealing that among financial services and insurance firms that have advanced beyond early pilots, the most common AI applications center on risk management and fraud detection. Together, these trends underscore Agentic AI’s growing role as a strategic catalyst for enterprise transformation.
Transformative applications of agentic AI
Agentic AI is not just another technological upgrade—it directly addresses high-impact challenges in banking and capital markets while delivering measurable business value.
Improving customer experience
Shifting customer behaviors demand hyper-personalization, instant support, and seamless channel integration. Agentic AI enables it by analyzing customer data in real-time and orchestrating tailored interactions across channels—email, chat, and apps.
- Smart and context-aware AI agents predict customer needs, recommending products and services proactively.
- Virtual assistants provide 24/7 support for inquiries, loan applications, and dispute resolutions.
Banks adopting agentic AI for customer engagement report up to 20% higher satisfaction scores and significantly reduced churn.
Enhancing operational efficiency
Legacy processes, manual workflows, and inefficiencies are among the top pain points for financial institutions. Agentic AI can automate repetitive tasks, elevate operational agility through predictive analytics and handle exceptions such as payment discrepancies.
This drives efficiency in critical processes like credit assessment and risk profiling— boosting productivity by up to 40% while allowing staff to focus on higher-value strategic goals.
Strengthening fraud detection and cybersecurity
Agentic AI’s ability to process and analyze large datasets in real-time plays a vital role in fraud detection and cybersecurity.
- Transactions are continuously monitored for anomalies to identify fraudulent activity instantly.
- Embedded AI-driven cybersecurity mechanisms respond to evolving threats autonomously.
For banks, this provides a critical safety net, reducing the risk of costly breaches and strengthening customer trust.
Streamlining compliance and regulatory adherence
Compliance remains one of the most resource-intensive areas for financial services. AI dramatically reduces the burden while minimizing errors.
- Regulatory risks are flagged in real-time, ensuring adherence to evolving regulations.
- Audit trails created through transparent AI models enhance accountability.
By automating compliance, institutions can limit penalties, protect reputation and redirect energy on innovation.
Challenges in implementing agentic AI
While the benefits of agentic AI are vast, its implementation poses challenges that financial institutions must be prepared to address.
Data governance and ethics
AI systems require vast amounts of data including sensitive information, raising concerns about privacy, bias, and ethical use. Without strong governance controls, institutions risk regulatory scrutiny and reputational damage.
To solve this issue, banks must develop robust frameworks for data governance, enforce ethical AI guidelines, and upgrade audits for AI-based decisions to detect and mitigate bias.
Integration with legacy systems
Outdated infrastructure and fragmented systems often hinder seamless AI adoption. Migrating to AI-compatible platforms can be cost-prohibitive. By focusing initially on high-impact, standalone AI use cases to demonstrate tangible value and then scale through a phased transformation roadmap.
Workforce readiness
AI adoption requires specialized skills. Without training, employees may struggle to interact effectively with AI systems, leading to underutilization. In response to this, organizations should invest in talent development programs and upskill employees to foster collaboration between humans and AI.
Why agentic AI is essential for banking and capital markets
Agentic AI is more than an innovation in technology—it is a strategic response to the modern banking sector’s core challenges. With a shift from narrow AI to autonomous and reasoning-driven systems, the value of Agentic AI can be distilled into five key transformations:
From predictive to proactive
Moves beyond alerts to autonomously investigate, simulate, and recommend next actions.
Smarter, context-aware engagement
Provides hyper-personalized advice, seamless cross-channel continuity, and conversational banking.
Enhanced risk and compliance
Enables real-time monitoring, adaptive stress testing, and automated audit readiness.
Operational efficiency
Diagnoses issues, adapts processes intelligently, and reduces repetitive workload at scale.
New business models
Powers embedded finance, monetizes data, and delivers always-on advisory services.
Putting agentic AI into action
To successfully harness the power of agentic AI, financial institutions need a well-structured implementation strategy.
01
Identify high-impact use cases
Start with domains where AI can demonstrate measurable and significant impact at speed, like fraud detection, customer engagement, or operational efficiency. Such early wins help build momentum and justify broader adoption.
02
Develop governance models
Ensure compliance and fairness by implementing transparent, explainable AI frameworks. Strong governance builds trust with both regulators and customers.
03
Invest in workforce training
Equip employees with the right skills and tools to collaborate effectively with AI systems. Embed AI as a trusted teammate, augmenting human judgement rather than replacing it.
04
Enable technology and integration
Modernize legacy infrastructure and adopt API-driven, modular architectures to integrate agentic AI seamlessly across the enterprise. This creates a scalable foundation for innovation and long-term value realization.
Turning challenges into opportunities
Leveraging agentic AI is not without obstacles, but it offers a clear path for financial institutions to innovate. From reimagining customer experiences to streamlining operations and automating compliance, agentic AI turns industry challenges into opportunities for innovation, resilience, and growth.
At EXL, our EXLerate.AI platform empowers businesses to adopt AI solutions seamlessly, scale their capabilities, and thrive in a dynamic market. Want to learn how AI can transform your business? Contact us today to get started.