AiThority Interview with Questionnaire for Jean-Philippe Desbiolles – IBM Managing Director – Groupe Crédit Mutuel

 Jean-Philippe Desbiolles – IBM Managing Director – Groupe Crédit Mutuel, talks about the use of cutting-edge technologies, importance of ethical AI adoption and the significant impact of machine learning and automation on cooperative banking.

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Hello Jean-Philippe! Welcome to our AiThority Interview Series. Please share your journey and learnings at Crédit Mutuel Group as IBM Managing Director.

My journey at Crédit Mutuel Group is marked by one word: a trusted partnership between Crédit Mutuel Euro-Information (Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale’s technology subsidiary) & IBM. We are here to assist the Group in the implementation and acceleration of their transformation leveraging technology to serve humans in their daily jobs.

Innovation is at the core of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale and Euro-Information’s technological journey. Since 2016, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale invests in cutting-edge technologies ranging from AI to Quantum Computing.

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One of the key milestones was leveraging IBM Watson[i] first to transform customer relations and enhance operational efficiency. Throughout this journey, we’ve learned that AI technology can significantly improve both customer and advisor experiences, leading to more personalized and efficient services.

We have recently announced the expansion of our long-term collaboration via the IBM watsonx platform — an AI and data platform designed to help businesses develop responsible AI — deployed on Credit Mutuel’s in-house computing infrastructure. This collaboration will make it possible to accelerate and industrialize the deployment of generative AI.

Additionally, our collaboration highlighted that embracing innovative technologies is essential for staying competitive and meeting the evolving needs of customers.

What are the key ethical considerations and challenges you foresee as AI adoption accelerates in the finance industry?

 One word is key: TRUST. It is all about trust as without trust, there is no adoption and without adoption, no ROI.

When considering the acceleration of AI adoption in the finance industry, there are several key ethical considerations and challenges that must be addressed.

I like to take the image of “Russian dolls” to illustrate my thoughts where the biggest doll is about ethical and societal concerns, the next one is about regulation, the other one is about corporation values & conduct guidelines, the other one is about operating model and finally the technology platform which enables all of this.

It is important to have a code of ethics to be sure that everyone in the enterprise is aligned on the use and consequences of AI. Establishing ethical guidelines for AI use in finance to ensure fairness, transparency, and accountability is essential.

 I am convinced that any corporation has to share explicitly with their employees the rules of the game, meaning what is or is not tolerated, accepted, or promoted, … if this is not done, humans will do what they think is appropriate and this could lead to serious breaches with corporate and societal values. So, think collectively about these rules, ensure they are shared, known and adopted across the whole company. This is precisely what Crédit Mutuel has done by adopting an AI Code of Ethics along with tools and processes to implement it.

Of course, data privacy and security are a major challenge: protecting the data that fuels AI models is crucial as financial data is highly sensitive, and breaches can lead to severe consequences.

One other key ethical & societal consideration and challenge include ensuring the transparency and explainability of AI systems to maintain trust and accountability. It’s crucial to address bias and fairness in AI algorithms to prevent discriminatory practices and ensure equal treatment of all customers.

Crédit Mutuel is renowned as one of France’s top cooperative banks. How is machine learning and automation specifically tailored to meet the needs of cooperative banking, and what benefits has Crédit Mutuel observed from it.

Operating as a sovereign technology bank, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale stands out for its ability to carry out almost all of this IT processing in its own datacenters — an approach underpinned by the historic collaboration established between the teams of Euro-Information, under the leadership of Frantz Rublé, CEO of Euro-Information, and IBM.

In 2016, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale embarked on a strategic partnership with IBM to harness the power of artificial intelligence to support its employees. This collaborative effort led to the development and implementation of innovative AI tools. A year and a half later, 25,000 advisors at Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale (Crédit Mutuel branches and CIC agencies), were using the tool on a daily basis to reduce the time spent on administrative tasks, such as data entry, signatures, and search. As a result, in 2022, the equivalent work hours of nearly 1,600 full-time employees were freed up for the benefit of customers and members who want a closer relationship with their local adviser.

In 2023, AI freed up nearly 1 million hours of administrative work to enable its 25,000 advisors to continue to best serve their members and clients showcasing Crédit Mutuel’s commitment to leveraging advanced technology for improved client relationship.

For the past eight years, the success of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale collaboration with IBM in artificial intelligence technologies has demonstrated the relevance of their strategy combining mutualist commitment and innovation. With watsonx, the Euro-Information and IBM teams gathered within a Cognitive Factory led by Laurent Prud’hon, Head of Cognitive Factory, are working on the industrialization of 35 new use cases to enable the banking advisors to always offer the best possible services to their customers and members.

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How do quantum computing, and cybersecurity technologies contribute to shaping the future of financial services at Crédit Mutuel Group?

 Back in 2016, Crédit Mutuel was among the first financial institutions to apply artificial intelligence and its industrialization. Their ambition for quantum computing is similar: to explore, then industrialize, in order to further transform the banking and insurance businesses, all with the underlying goal of also keeping their customers’ information secure. Because banking and insurance are technological industries, it is essential to constantly innovate to master the technologies of the future, and to ensure that they help guarantee sovereignty.

After a successful initial phase, we have identified specific use cases, among many areas of interest in financial services, for the next “scaling” phase, including research into customer experience, fraud management and risk management. This phase also intends to explore possibilities for how quantum computing could lead to future improvements in Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale’s customer and employee experience.

Looking ahead, what are the top challenges of AI and automation adoption in the finance sector?

The 3 key challenges are:

1/ Think business processes reengineering. AI is highly transformational, its power forces us to re-think and re-design critical business processes. Very few clients are really at this stage, we continue to (just) add AI to business processes. This has to change, AI maturity is there, let’s be bold and dare!

2/ Be trusted! As said, trust is key, it is not negotiable. It means that our clients have to implement in parallel the appropriate operating and technology model to do it. It’s about the AI platform, the right governance, the trusted models and the most effective techniques to improve model performance. For IBM, it’s watsonx, Granite models and Instructlab.

3/ AI at scale. POCs and MVPs lead to a situation where many AI initiatives are undertaken but too often we see small projects in many places. Today, our clients want to infuse AI at scale within their organisation. To do so, we have to deploy AI & Data Factories, with the right skill sets, tooling and methods. From the very beginning, Euro-Information has been a pioneer in adopting this AI at scale and industrialization strategy, and the results and benefits speak for themselves. We know how to do it, let’s make it happen!

Could you recommend a thought leader in the AI industry whose perspectives on AI’s future you find particularly insightful and would like to share with our audience?

 I have a lot of humility… so, I would allow myself to share with you the 2 books I published in the last 3 years: in 2021, “AI will be what you make of it” and in 2023, “Human or AI, who will decide the future?”.

To make a long story short, the first one was based on a simple belief: we need to embrace AI to master it. Pointless to push back, it’s a structural change, a real industrial revolution.

I structured my book around 10 golden rules based on the projects I led in ASIA, USA and Europe.

The second book is about another conviction and statement namely the collaboration between AI & Humans. In some cases, humans have to act alone, in others machines have to decide alone and, in many cases, the collaboration between human and machine lead to the best decision. The question is: which scenario for which use cases? The book brings some tips, methods, rationale to help taking such decisions.

Last thing I want to share, if you buy these books, you will not enrich me, as 100% of the author rights are going to children hospital foundation.  So, enjoy… and give me your feed backs…

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Thank you, Jean-Philippe, for sharing your insights with us.

[To share your insights with us as part of editorial or sponsored content, please write to psen@itechseries.com]