Artificial intelligence is slashing the time it takes Westpac to develop software – and therefore bring products and services to the customer – and is giving staff hours back in their diary each week.

Much of this is thanks to Westpac’s AI accelerator, which is a purpose-built, multi-disciplinary team of people charged with finding ways to make the most of AI, who are working across the bank. The group includes everyone from technologists who are AI specialists, through to risk and compliance experts.

“The AI accelerator lets us go fast at the edge, but safely,” says Westpac group chief technology officer, David Walker.

Thanks to the AI accelerator, Westpac now writes 40 per cent more software code a day versus when it didn’t have AI’s help. This is just the tip of the AI iceberg for the bank, with hundreds or more use cases for the technology across the business.

We’re seeing productivity gains from 5 per cent to 40 per cent across the different use cases,” Walker says.

In one example, the big four bank is using AI to combat scams and frauds through Westpac Safer Pay. The scam detection system helps customers decide whether a payment should go through by walking them through a series of prompts.

Plus, an AI-powered financial markets co-pilot is saving staff hours a week they can spend with customers. A co-pilot brings together knowledge sitting in policy and procedure documents and the financial markets teams use prompts to access the information.

Looking ahead, Westpac is exploring how AI co-workers can perform lower-level, operational tasks. “It’s about freeing up staff’s time so they can do high-value activities,” says Walker.

For instance, when a mortgage application comes in from a broker or direct from a customer, the application is triaged to see if the paperwork is ready to go through the pipeline of approval.

“We want to make that as fast as possible for customers. We’re working on an AI coworker to do all that work, before it’s passed back to one of our staff, who will make sure the application has been correctly assessed,” says Walker.

Changing banking tech approach

Thanks to AI, mortgages will be able to move through the pipeline faster and staff will be able to do more interesting work.

Experts say banks are embracing AI that’s giving them bang for their buck.

“They are looking for a moderate to high return on investment,” says Brad Daffy, KPMG Australia partner.

Daffy says areas where AI is already adding value include fraud detection, customer support and compliance. “Our research tells us banks are only part of the way there. No one has exhausted the potential around AI,” says Daffy.

He explains banks are increasing their AI spending and expanding their AI use cases, with a focus around delivering ROI.

“This is about looking at very complex processes that would not have been easy to automate previously. But rapid technological advances are opening up new opportunities to drive unseen levels of efficiency,” says Daffy.

Research by professional services firm HLB International, the Survey of Business Leaders 2025, says AI is being used by banks to develop hatbots and advanced analytics algorithms and planning and coding. It is also helping to understand consumer behaviour, identify suspicious transactions and sending alerts to customers via the application.

As an example, in September 2024, CBA joined with Amazon Web Services (AWS), establishing a state-of-the-art AI Factory, which allows CBA to test and develop AI solutions.

“It creates a capability for banks to provide hyper-personalised and contextualised experiences for customers and communities,” says Kapil Kukreja, risk and assurance partner at HLB Mann Judd Melbourne.

Late last year, CBA outlined how AI has helped it achieve a host of important outcomes. For instance, the bank has realised a 50 per cent reduction in customer scam losses, supported by AI-powered safety and security features, including NameCheck, CallerCheck and CustomerCheck.

The bank has also achieved a 30 per cent drop in customer-reported frauds due to measures like AI-powered suspicious transaction alerts and AI-powered app messaging. This has helped it to reduce call centre wait times by 40 per cent over the most recent financial year.

Looking ahead, CBA has said it is exploring how AI can be applied to its entire software development lifecycle.

Kukreja says banks can realise many advantages by applying AI to their operations, including better customer experience, more personalised services and to help combat fraud and cybercrime

“AI results in more streamlined and efficient processes and improved anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing systems. It leads to increased customer retention and low customer acquisition costs,” says Kukreja

While it’s still early days for banks and AI, it will be exciting to see how the tech improves the way the financial services sector operates and supports customers and also staff over time.

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