Singapore events draw more than 250 corporate and financial institution leaders as regional payments market reaches an estimated US$18 trillion Demand for AI-driven treasury, trade and currency solutions is accelerating among Asia Pacific companies as they contend with a more complex operating environment for trade and capital flows, elevated FX volatility and evolving liquidity risks, according to Bank of America. The assessment emerged from the bank’s annual flagship client events in Singapore, the Treasury Leaders Summit on May 20 and the Financial Institutions Forum on May 21. The two events brought together more than 250 senior treasury and financial institution leaders from global corporates, banks, asset managers and insurers. Bank of America, the second largest bank in the world by market capitalization, has hosted the events for over 15 years. The forums convene clients, market participants and policy makers to discuss trends shaping payments, liquidity and transaction banking. The events were hosted by Winnie Chen, Head of Global Payments Solutions, Asia Pacific at Bank of America, alongside senior global and regional leaders. “In an environment defined by persistent volatility and structural shifts, clients are seeking insights that go beyond theory,” Chen said. “There is a clear pivot toward data and AI-driven capabilities that can help clients strengthen resilience, sharpen decision-making and deliver measurable results.” The gatherings took place as the Asia Pacific payments market reached an estimated US$18 trillion in transaction value, according to Mordor Intelligence data, underscoring the scale of the opportunity to optimize treasury, payments and risk management strategies in the region. Bank of America spends more than US$13 billion annually on technology. Its platforms, including CashPro and Intelligent Receivables, help clients achieve real-time cash visibility, streamline payments and liquidity management, and improve reconciliation at scale. “Bank of America’s global platform, combined with our AI-enabled capabilities, positions us strongly to deliver seamless solutions that help clients navigate complexity and unlock growth,” Chen added. Bank of America serves nearly 70 million clients in the United States through approximately 3,500 retail financial centers and 15,000 ATMs, with around 59 million verified digital users. The company operates across the United States, its territories and more than 35 countries. Its stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker…

New Scotia Intelligence features include persistent AI workspaces, content generation tools and collaborative editing, as employee adoption grows quarter on quarter Scotiabank has rolled out new capabilities under Scotia Intelligence, its enterprise AI platform, extending access to a workforce of more than 71,000 employees with the stated aims of improving client experience, speed and risk management. More than 5,500 engineers are now using AI tools to support coding, and the bank reported a 30% quarter-over-quarter increase in employee use of AI to respond to client queries. The new features include Notebooks, a workspace that synthesises files, emails, meeting notes and data into summaries and content drafts; Create, a tool for producing presentations and visual content; and Pages, a collaborative canvas for turning AI outputs into editable shared documents. “We have seen meaningful enterprise-wide adoption of Scotia Intelligence and today’s announcement marks another step forward in how we are deploying AI at scale,” said Phil Thomas, Group Head and Chief Strategy & Operating Officer. The rollout is accompanied by a training programme covering foundational AI literacy through to role-specific applications, supported by workshops, business line champions and mandatory AI risk training. Scotiabank says it was the first Canadian bank to establish a dedicated Data Ethics team and publish a Data Ethics Statement, and reviews AI use cases for fairness, transparency and accountability before launch, with employees required to complete annual attestations. “Integrating AI into daily workflows isn’t just about deploying new technology, it’s about supporting our people as they build new skills and adapt to new ways of working,” said Jenny Poulos, Chief Human Resources…