As financial services firms grapple with ever-growing mountains of data, often from external, unstructured sources, a poll of nearly 800 bankers by Accenture suggests that half aren’t doing enough to validate and ensure data quality.

More than nine in 10 of the bankers surveyed say they are confident in the integrity of the sources of their data. However, 11% trust their data is reliable, but don’t validate it; 16% try to validate their data, but aren’t sure of the quality; and 24% validate the data, but recognise they should do a lot more to ensure the quality.

In addition, while five in six bankers say they increasingly use data to drive critical and automated decision-making, more than three-quarters believe that these automated systems create new risks, such as fake data, external data manipulation and inherent bias.

Alan McIntyre, head, banking practice, Accenture, says: "Given that four in five bankers that we surveyed said they are basing their most critical systems and strategies on data, it’s critical that the data can be verified and validated."

The survey also shows that AI and the blockchain continue to be top topics of interest for the industry. On average, respondents expect that operational blockchain systems will be live in their banks in 2.6 years, and that the technology might one day provide cost-effective replacements for legacy core banking systems.

Nearly four in five bankers believe that AI will work alongside humans as collaborators and trusted advisors within the next two years, although many are worried about regulatory and ethical standards.

Peter Sidebottom, an MD of strategy in Accenture’s FS practice, says: "AI decisioning processes can’t be a black box; banks need to adhere to and provide the same transparency as they do with any other employee to ensure regulatory compliance, and to earn customer trust."

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