What does agentic AI really mean for banks, and where does the reality differ from the hype?
In this episode of The Banking Scene Director’s Cut, Andrew Vorster speaks with Wesley Wuyts, Senior Customer Advisor at SAS, about how banks are approaching agentic AI, where the biggest opportunities lie, and what it will actually take to move from promising demos to reliable production use in a regulated environment.
The conversation explores how agentic AI could help banks close the gap between insight and action, especially in operationally intensive areas such as KYC, fraud management, complaints handling and document-heavy workflows. Wesley also shares a practical view on the limits of current technology, why fully autonomous end-to-end banking processes are still a step too far for most institutions, and why governance, auditability, data access and human oversight remain essential.
If you work in banking, fintech, financial services, risk, compliance, operations, AI, data or technology, this discussion offers a grounded perspective on one of the sector’s most talked-about topics.
In this interview, we cover:
What banks actually mean when they talk about agentic AI
The difference between agentic AI, generative AI, copilots and traditional automation
Why some agentic AI use cases in banking are being oversold
The challenges of moving from AI pilot to production
Why data access, integration and auditability are often the biggest hurdles
What meaningful human oversight should look like in banking
How banks should think about accountability when AI completes part of a workflow
The realities of multi-agent systems in a regulated environment
How to approach build versus buy in the agentic AI stack
How to measure the performance and quality of AI agents in financial services
This episode is part of The Banking Scene’s wider research into AI and the Agentic Future of Banking, exploring how agentic AI is likely to reshape banking in the Benelux region over the next 12 to 36 months.
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You can find a summary recap of the interview on our website here.
