The world is at the brink of the fourth industrial revolution. The first one used water to mechanise production; the second one used electricity; the third used electronics and IT. Currently, the fourth one fuses various technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Analytics, Big data, Blockchain and the like. Waves of these recent technological products and services are bringing new dimensions of business, which have opened the new avenues of opportunities for Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) sector around the world. Technological developments are changing the ways, banking is done, and the banks retain and interact with their customers. To sustain in the cut-throat competition, adaptation to ever-evolving and future-oriented technologies like deployment of Analytics, Blockchain and AI are inevitable for the banks today. In this article, we are going to discuss Robotic Process Automation which is an important subset of AI and its implementation in the banking industry. What is AI? Father of AI, John McCarthy had defined it as ‘the science and engineering of making intelligent machines.’ There are many applied solutions of AI in the banking industry viz chatbots, robo-advisors, robotics, humanoids and smart virtual assistants etc.

According to the Institute for Robotic Process Automation (IRPA AI), Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is the application of technology that allows employees in a company to configure computer software or a ‘robot’ to capture and interpret existing applications for processing a transaction, manipulating data, triggering responses and communicating with other digital systems. In simpler terms, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is the automation of various business processes using Robotics. It is the use of RPA software to install desktop and end-user device-level software robots, or an AI workforce, or assistants, to help process banking work that is repetitive in nature. For the banking industry, RPA represents an innovative and advanced way to increase productivity, while minimising traditional repetitive, manual-labour-intensive processes, mundane jobs etc. With this technique, a bank can use programmed software to automate everyday tasks, freeing up employees to focus his or her efforts on marketing and sales.