As banks increasingly deploy artificial intelligence(AI) to enhance efficiencies, improve customer service and also combat cyber risks, they are strengthening their IT systems and hiring requisite talent.
State Bank of India Chairman C S Setty said recently the bank had made large-scale IT recruitments last year and would look to fill more posts. He added some mid-level specialised positions, particularly in the cybersecurity space, would be filled this year.
Bank of Baroda MD & CEO Debadatta Chand told FE in an interview, the bank was hiring in big numbers for the IT team to meet the challenging tech landscape, both in terms of cybersecurity and the ability to offer the best technology to customers.
Institutional Scaling
“We have said we would be hiring more than 250 people to augment the tech capability,” Chand said. BarodaSun Technologies (BSTL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the bank, will be doing captive business with the bank and will be investing in emerging technology. “We are working on augmenting our capability We have set aside a minimum of 10% of the operating profit for tech spend, and we need to hike that to 15%,” Chand said.
Regulatory Mandate
Banks’ increased focus on cybersecurity follows Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s flagging of risks tied to Anthropic’s Claude AI model in a meeting with banks last month. The ministry also urged banks to adopt proactive measures against emerging risks from AI to safeguard their systems, data, and customers’ money.
On emerging Mythos-related risks, Indian Bank’s MD & CEO Binod Kumar said the bank is strengthening its internal cybersecurity team, particularly with AI experts. “We already have capable resources and are also hiring AI experts to boost in-house capabilities”.