Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) J.P. Morgan 54th Annual Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference summary

Industry sentiment and client priorities

• Financial institutions show strong optimism, with positive momentum not seen since before the financial crisis.

• Banks are focused on organic growth, M&A opportunities, and innovation in financial services.

• Deposit generation and sophisticated money movement capabilities are top priorities, including ACH, wire, real-time payments, and digital currency.

• Digital transformation is critical, with emphasis on seamless account origination and robust fraud prevention.

• Data and AI are central, with real-time data platforms and AI-driven models gaining traction.

Technology investment and spending trends

• Banks maintain consistent 7%-8% annual tech spend growth, focusing on cyber, digital, payments, data, AI, and fraud prevention.

• Fraud costs are rising, especially in areas like check kiting, driving demand for advanced fraud solutions.

• Core banking systems remain a low priority for spending unless unmet needs arise or M&A activity necessitates change.

• Account growth has increased to 6%, driven by both organic expansion and M&A.

AI and innovation partnerships

• The Anthropic partnership is seen as transformative, leveraging regulatory expertise to build compliant AI agents for banks.

• AI agents will initially target financial crimes, with future expansion into areas like card fraud disputes and loan operations.

• These AI solutions are expected to reduce process costs by up to 90%, with human oversight remaining essential.

• Savings from AI are being reinvested in growth, not workforce reduction.

• The innovation burden lies with the technology provider, with more agentic capabilities planned for release.