VTB and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) have agreed to open a joint research & development facility to support the activities of MIPT employees, which aim to develop the use Big Data technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) in banks.
The agreement on the creation of the scientific facility named "Machine Learning in Banking Technologies" was signed by Vadim Kulik, Deputy President and Chairman of the VTB Management Board, and Nikolay Kudryavtsev, Dean of MIPT.
The first projects from the research facility will be applied development of speech recognition applications and services to improve VTB's customer support. Another area of collaboration in the new facility will be research and projects in the field of determining the psycho-emotional state of the bank's staff using neural networks. In addition, VTB and MIPT will develop mathematical models to improve the bank's performance, as well as technologies for VTB's business partners.
Vadim Kulik, Deputy President and Chairman of the VTB Management Board, said: “Artificial intelligence technology is already in use across many the bank's processes, accounting for up to 70% of the analytics and automatic decision-making tasks. As part of our digital transformation, we are focussed on increasing development in this area. The joint project with MIPT will not only allow us to bring the technologies used in the Russian banking sector to the next level but will also contribute to the development of corporate science and scientific research. In addition, our R&D facility will give the most talented students the opportunity to try their hand at solving real world practical problems.”
Nikolai Kudryavtsev, MIPT Director, said: "VTB is a key player in the banking sector. For MIPT, the creation of a joint R&D facility aimed at solving the ambitious tasks set by the bank is an opportunity to develop not only its competencies in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning, but also to be involved in the development of the domestic fintech ecosystem.”
The opening of the joint research & development facility is the first step in bilateral relations aimed at developing domestic algorithms for creating applications using artificial intelligence tools, improving VTB services and involving MIPT students in solving specific problems in the real economy.