SMBC rolls out AI tools to assist CFOs, expand financial inclusion

It also plans to create frameworks to ensure AI reliability and transparency.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) is developing artificial intelligence solutions to help corporate and retail clients operate more efficiently.

Speaking at the Singapore FinTech Festival 2025's C-Suite Insights: Roadmap for AI in Financial Services session on 12 November, Deputy President Executive Officer Yoshihiro Hyakutome said the bank is using AI both to streamline decision-making for chief financial officers (CFOs) and to improve access to financial services in emerging markets.

In the corporate banking segment, SMBC is introducing a “CFO agent,” an AI-driven tool designed to highlight the most critical data for large companies’ financial operations.

“One of the things we are doing in the corporate banking segment is to create what we call a CFO agent, to help CFOs of large companies to manage their daily jobs using AI and basically telling them what are the most crucial data for their decision making,” Hyakutome said.

The model does not make decisions for CFOs but instead supports them with curated data sets.

“CFO makes decisions based upon the data set that we create using AI, and then we are creating this model as a super personalised model for each companies depending upon their needs,” he explained. “So those are the types of things that we are doing to help our corporate banking clients operate much more efficiently."

Beyond operational efficiency, SMBC emphasises AI governance and ethical standards.

Over the next 18 months, the bank plans to establish frameworks to ensure reliability and transparency in AI deployment.

“The other thing that I think we have to focus on during the next 18 months, and probably that doesn't generate too much money, is how we are going to create a scale standard for AI,” Hyakutome said.

He said that the most important elements are a good model, strong governance, and solid ethics. One of the key components, Hyakutome added, is data — creating reliable, auditable data and ensuring that AI models are auditable as well, so that the products generated by AI are acceptable to all stakeholders.

SMBC is also using AI to advance financial inclusion in Southeast Asia. The bank has invested heavily in Indonesia, India, Vietnam, and the Philippines, aiming to improve access to banking services for retail clients.

“For SMBC as a global institution with a network everywhere, we would like to be a reliable global AI leading institution, connecting a good data set that we have across all different regions, for our large corporations and for retail banking,” the chief executive said.