Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s Singapore-based venture aims to develop agent AI tools to simplify complex processes
Corporate finance executives will soon be able to rely on artificial intelligence (AI) to help them manage everything from managing payments and accounts receivable to tracking cash flow and handling foreign exchange exposure.
Humans only oversee critical steps, and autonomous AI agents handle day-to-day tasks.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) envisions the future by offering this suite of AI tools alongside loans and financial advisory as it strengthens its investments in this area.
Mayoran Rajendra, director of SMBC Asia Innovation Center, said the Japanese financial group is establishing a new AI venture to develop solutions to streamline corporate finance workflows. He added that the increasing complexity of financial workflows was a pain point identified through four years of customer engagement.
SMBC has been providing business intelligence consulting services for four years, but its latest effort marks a more ambitious commitment to enterprise AI. Outside of Japan, we primarily serve large multinational corporations and financial institutions.
In May, SMBC’s parent company Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) announced an initial commitment of 800 billion yen (S$6.76 billion) to accelerate digital transformation across the organization. Of that amount, 50 billion yen will be allocated to the development of generative AI.
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Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation is one of Japan’s largest financial institutions, boasting assets of over 250 trillion yen.
new AI venture
Headquartered in Singapore, the agent AI venture develops both internal and client-facing solutions. Ahmed Jamil Mazari, SMFG’s group-wide AI transformation advisor, will invest in the business.
Agenttic AI refers to AI systems that can independently learn, reason, and act, and is expected to speed up business processes.
Mayoran said bank customers are increasingly using AI to automate their operations. “First of all, we need to transform ourselves to do the right thing and, above all, to better serve our customers.”
SMBC will be the venture’s first customer, Mayoran said, and the tool will be expanded to bank customers, starting with CFO offices. The CFO office oversees a wide range of financial processes, monitoring business metrics such as return on invested capital and cash conversion cycles.
Our booth at this year’s Singapore FinTech Festival will showcase how we are making AI agents more accessible to SMBC’s customers.
need to experiment
Mayoran said the venture will be established as an independent startup to give talent more flexibility to experiment and develop solutions.
He emphasized that experimentation is key to understanding AI’s capabilities and limitations. Users also need to clearly define business goals and examine processes end-to-end to identify real bottlenecks.
Although there are still concerns about the potential for overhype and overinvestment surrounding AI, Mayoran remains confident in its potential. “Expectations for AI are high, but its capabilities are real,” he says.
It was created in partnership with the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Global Finance & Technology Network.
For more stories, please visit https://bt.sg/sff2025.
