Group AI Strategy

The video discusses UOB's AI strategy and transformation journey comprising:

Our strategic initiatives under the three enabling pillars of People, Process and Technology.
Our ecosystem and operating model centred on AI and Data Science.

Representative AI Initiatives

Machine Learning Use Case: Branch Crowd Status Advisor

With the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting how we go about our lives, we sought to transform the branch experience for our customers by tapping AI and machine learning. The UOB Branch Crowd Advisor is a seamless online-to-offline solution that enables our customers to better plan their visits to the branch and ensure a safe and convenient experience for all.

The Branch Crowd Advisor project was initiated with the intention of improving how we manage crowds at our branches and to better ensure the safety of our customers and colleagues amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It presents an intuitive visual – akin to traffic light indicators – by projecting the crowd expected at any branch, at any given hour and day. This information empowers our customers to plan their visits to our branches up to a week ahead with greater assurance of a shorter waiting time. By more evenly distributing customer visits across our branch network, crowding is also minimised, allowing better safe distancing at our branches.

The Branch Crowd Advisor was developed in under 3 months and was launched in October 2020. Starting with 26 branches, the branch crowd predictions were continually refined and subsequently rolled out to the entire network of more than 40 branches. This agile approach shortened the development time and allowed UOB to be more responsive in addressing our customers’ needs in this pandemic. The project team employed state-of-art generalised time series forecasting techniques that incorporate domain experts’ inputs in the modelling solution to develop a best-in-class solution. The model also underwent extensive ground validation to test its accuracy.

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Business Benefits

The Branch Crowd Advisor was built with the aim to better empower and enhance our customers’ and colleagues’ well-being, recognising the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. By providing information on the expected crowd situation at any given hour and day before visiting the branch, customers can exercise care by avoiding high traffic periods and by minimising the time spent waiting in queues. At the same time, branches are able to make use of the crowd predictions to better manage and redeploy limited resources to where they are needed to achieve better efficiency and productivity. This forward-planning of branch resources in turn ensures that customer queues are minimised, as branches are adequately staffed to meet customers’ demands.

Since the inception of the Branch Crowd Advisor, we have seen an increase in the number of customers making use of the predictors to plan their trips to our branches:

10.6k active users
More than 50% are returning visitors
15% of visitors came directly to the Crowd Advisor landing page
Better distribution of customers across the branch network.
There was a sharp uptrend in the web traffic to the Branch Crowd Advisor during peak periods like Chinese New Year, encashment of government grant cheques and whenever COVID-19 restrictions are relaxed etc.
Branches are empowered take proactive measures to anticipate and manage the increased footfall
Customer adoption of the Branch Crowd Advisor is encouraging, and the team is continually reviewing the platform to provide greater convenience and value to customers and colleagues alike.

Comparing Year on Year Jan – Dec 2020 vs Jan - July 2021

Decrease in “detractor” from average 15 to 13 (-13%)
Increase in “Promoter” from average 15 to 17 (+13%)
Average waiting time has improved: we are now able to serve customers in under eight minutes

Data Protection Trustmark

Data has become an essential part of our everyday lives. For organisations such as UOB, data helps us to better understand our customers and develop services and products to best serve their needs. With the ever-growing volume of data, it is vital that organisations safeguard the information entrusted to them.

As personal data protection and privacy become increasingly important and a key concern, our customers want to know that the organisation has accountable and responsible data protection practices.
To support organisations in the management and protection of our data, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) developed the Data Protection Trustmark (DPTM) certification that assesses an organisation’s standard of data protection policies, processes and practises. The DPTM is based on Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) and incorporates elements of international benchmarks and best practices.

To obtain the certification, organisations are required to pass a set of robust and comprehensive criteria based on the key principles: Governance and Transparency, Management and Care of Personal Data and Individuals’ Rights. On successful completion, the organisation is awarded the certification with a validity of three years, after which, recertification is required.

UOB was awarded the DPTM certification on 10th August 2021, further strengthening our position as a Bank with sound and robust data protection practices and policies in place to safeguard customers’ personal data. In addition, the certification builds trust and fosters confidence in the Bank, raising our competitiveness both locally and overseas. UOB is only the second bank in Singapore to be issued with this certification.

Want to understand how UOB shares data safely and securely? Click here.