Wells Fargo & Co. hired Faraz Shafiq from Amazon Web Services to oversee the bank's adoption of artificial intelligence products and help make operations more efficient.
Shafiq will study companywide needs that can be addressed by generative and agentic AI, and work with technology teams to develop and manage those products, according to Saul Van Beurden, the newly appointed head of AI who also shares responsibility for the bank's consumer business.
"We are a large company, and if you look at AI products and solutions that you put in place, what you don't want to have is that there's constant sprawl of all types of different solutions that try to do the same across the whole company," Van Beurden said in an interview.
Shafiq, based in San Francisco, will start on Feb. 9 and report to Van Beurden.
Before AWS, Shafiq worked at highly regulated telecommunications and health-tech companies, Van Beurden said.
"If you never work for a regulated company, then it's really a cold shower to come to a bank," Van Beurden said. "It will not be a cold shower because he understands what it means to be regulated."
The AI push comes alongside Wells Fargo's efforts to reduce costs, a key part of Chief Executive Officer Charlie Scharf's turnaround plans since he took the helm in 2019. After slashing more than 60,000 jobs, the bank now has the smallest headcount among the top four lenders, down from the largest five years ago.
This year, Wells Fargo's employees will receive more AI training, adding tools to help offload mundane and repetitive tasks, and expand the business without having to hire new people for certain tasks, Van Beurden said.
"If there is a situation where the job completely goes away through AI, we want to have a workforce that is trained, employable with AI skills," he said.
(Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)
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