Wall Street Banks Deploy AI 'Digital Employees' to Boost Productivity

Major Wall Street firms are accelerating their adoption of advanced artificial intelligence, deploying so-called "agentic AI" that can execute complex tasks with minimal human input. The push to integrate these digital assistants aims to unlock significant productivity gains across wealth management, trading, and client services.

A New Class of Digital Coworkers

Banks are increasingly treating these AI agents as digital employees, assigning them specific roles alongside human teams. At BNY, a digital assistant named "Payment Pete" has its own login credentials and is managed by a human who oversees its training and performance, CEO Robin Vince explained on a Wall Street Journal podcast. The bank did not respond to requests for comment, according to Reuters.

Similarly, Morgan Stanley plans to test client-facing digital assistants later this summer, according to Koren Maranca, the bank's head of AI for Wealth Management. The firm already uses AI agents to support its financial advisors by analyzing investments and suggesting strategies. At UBS, AI agents send thousands of daily alerts to advisors about client needs, such as maturing annuities, and can execute trades and money transfers upon approval. This automation allows advisors to spend 70% of their time in direct client conversations, said Richard James, head of AI product at UBS.

Widespread Adoption and Investor Scrutiny

The move toward agentic AI is a sector-wide trend. A June survey from KPMG found that 51% of banks were already piloting AI agents. Goldman Sachs has partnered with AI firm Anthropic to develop agents for trading and client onboarding, while JPMorgan and Citi are also developing AI assistants for corporate treasury and wealth management, respectively.

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This technology push comes as bank investors are increasingly scrutinizing the return on investment (ROI) from large technology expenditures. "Investors are asking, where should we be looking for ROI on these tech spends," said Peter Torrente, U.S. sector leader for banking at KPMG, noting that banks are focusing on AI projects where returns are most evident.

Balancing Innovation with Oversight

As banks give these digital agents more access to internal systems, executives and regulators are focused on managing the associated risks. Firms are implementing strict guardrails to ensure human supervision remains central to the process, particularly for critical or client-facing functions.

Morgan Stanley's Maranca emphasized that there will always be human oversight and that AI agents will not have the autonomy to make final portfolio decisions. This cautious approach is common across the industry. "They are still primarily using it for internal purposes and are being extremely cautious when it touches the customer," said Bhavi Mehta, global lead for advanced analytics in financial services at Bain & Company.