AI's Impact On Finance Is Evolving - BMO Is Turning It Into Cost And Data Advantage
AI has moved from pilot projects to daily practice. That was the message from Armando Benitez, chief data & analytics officer and head of AI at BMO Capital Markets, during a recent appearance on Benzinga's All Access.
"The space is evolving at an incredible rate. AI is no longer just an experiment but is making a real difference in our day-to-day," he said. "At the end of the day, it's not just hype."
Why AI Fits Finance
Finance is full of rule-driven work. That's fertile ground for automation and assistive analytics that cut cycle times and improve consistency.
- Operational: reconciliations, breaks, exceptions, invoice matching, and document extraction.
- Risk and controls: alert triage for KYC/AML, trade surveillance assistance, model validation support.
- Markets and banking: liquidity and cash forecasting support, pricing suggestions, research summarization, and code assistants for analysts and quants.
How BMO Is Leaning In
According to Benitez, the ecosystem around data, models, and tooling is finally mature enough to build the right applications. The focus: lower unit costs, get to cleaner data faster, and put the best tech in the hands of teams that need it.
That combination-cost discipline plus high-quality data access-is what turns AI from a demo into measurable P&L impact.
What Finance Teams Can Do Now
- Start with rule-based workflows. Map the steps, define success metrics, and automate the repetitive slices first.
- Invest in a clean data layer. Strong lineage, permissions, and quality checks reduce rework and model drift.
- Run controlled pilots. Keep a human in the loop, log outputs, and compare against baselines for accuracy and time saved.
- Bake in governance early. Align models to policy, explainability, and monitoring standards like the NIST AI Risk Management Framework.
- Measure outcomes. Track cost-to-serve, cycle time, error rates, and client response-then scale what works.
Useful Resources
- Watch the full Benzinga All Access conversation
- FSB: AI and machine learning in financial services (risk and policy overview)
- Practical AI tools for finance workflows
- AI courses by job function (including Finance)
Disclosure: This post contains sponsored content. It is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be investing advice.
Source event: Detroit, Michigan - December 18, 2025.
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