How Agentic AI Is Reshaping Customer Experience for Asian Banks

With the potential to transform customer experience, streamline operations and enable next-generation decision-making, a new IDC InfoBrief report, Agentic AI: Driving a New Wave of Banking Transformation, explores how banks across Asia are accelerating investments in both agentic and generative AI.

Results showed that banks are choosing to embrace generative AI (GenAI) to improve efficiency in areas like fraud detection, process automation and decision support. GenAI is also helping banks reduce time spent on critical tasks, tackle complex problems and deliver segmented, hyper-personalised experiences for their customers. 

Read on to find out more about key trends from the report, which Salesforce and Capgemini commissioned, and what they mean for banks in Asia.

Growing momentum in generative AI for Asian banks

To see where the adoption of agentic AI is heading, we only need to look at the difference GenAI is making within the sector since it emerged as a financial services tool.

According to the IDC InfoBrief report, which looked at key markets in Asia including Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Pakistan, 22% of Asian banks have invested significantly in GenAI, with plans to launch new applications or services in the next 12 months. 

Additionally, 27% of Asian banks have introduced several GenAI-enhanced apps or services into production, while 50% report they’re committed to embedding GenAI services into their organisations.

This surge in activity marks a pivotal moment. Banks are beginning to view GenAI not just as an emerging trend, but as a foundational capability.

In fact, 80% of banks consider agentic AI a new enterprise application. Reflecting this shift, in 2025, investment in GenAI among banks is significantly increasing as well.

This year, 76% of banks plan to spend between US$1 million to $1.9 million on GenAI, while 7% report they’re planning to spend between US$10 million to $49.9 million on the technology.

This financial commitment shows just how important GenAI is viewed among banks as part of their digital strategy and processes across the region.

Key benefits driving agentic AI investment

Agentic AI offers clear, tangible benefits for banks in Asia that are driving its adoption.

A standout finding from the report is that 90% of banks believe agentic AI solutions will help them consolidate enterprise applications. For organisations managing complex legacy systems, consolidating their technology and applications can help improve business efficiencies and agility.

Across the region, banks are also seeing a range of other benefits from adopting agentic AI:   

• 39% say agentic AI is helping improve customer experience
• 36% report improvements in operational efficiency
• 28% say it has helped enhance data-based decision-making
• 28% use it to automate repetitive tasks

Not only are these capabilities supporting banks in improving customer support and ‌operations; they’re also redefining how banks work, compete, and grow today. As AI uptake continues to accelerate, the report details how agentic AI is proving itself a catalyst for smarter, more agile, and digitally-aware financial institutions.

Partner engagements help to accelerate agentic AI innovation

Another key enabler of success identified in the report is engaging a partner.

According to the IDC InfoBrief, partnerships are 40% faster at delivering and scaling enterprise projects, as compared to building or buying solutions in-house. For banks racing to launch new services, speed translates into a critical competitive advantage.

Banks that partner with AI solution providers can deliver agentic AI projects in just 11 months, which is almost half the time taken by those that build in-house, where project delivery typically takes around 20 months.

By collaborating with experienced partners, banks can unlock greater value from the technology, tap into deep product expertise, accelerate innovation, reduce risk, and build trust in the market more effectively.

What this means for Asian banks and financial services

In addition to understanding agentic AI and its use across Asia, the IDC InfoBrief also identified areas where the technology could offer significant benefits in key regions. 

Banks in Asia can leverage agentic AI to:

• Overcome limitations of earlier AI models to accelerate monetisation and help banks make a real difference to their bottom line
• Streamline operations and reduce costs through process simplification, enabling employees to focus on higher-value, priority tasks
• Use personalisation and automation to enhance, meet, and surpass customers’ expectations to create a best-in-class experience
• Support the future of work by enabling hybrid teams and AI-assisted employees, super-charging their workforce

Across all markets, the report highlights a common urgency: banks that want to remain competitive in a technology-driven future must modernise their core systems, unlock greater value from their data, and build intelligent, AI-enabled foundations for long-term growth.

While each country featured in the report is at a different stage of transformation, a common trend across regions is a strong focus on speed, scalability, and smarter customer engagement.By embracing agentic AI, banks can significantly increase their chances of achieving these priorities — accelerating time to market, adapting more quickly to changing customer needs, and delivering more personalised, efficient services at scale. Ultimately, agentic AI isn’t just a tool for optimisation; it’s a technology that strategically enables future-ready banking.

How Agentic AI is reimagining the future of banking in Asia

Agentic AI is transforming financial services in Asia, and the pace is only increasing. 

The role of partners is central to this transformation. Partners like Capgemini play a vital role in bringing Agentforce, the agentic layer of the Salesforce platform, to life. They help to accelerate AI-driven transformation in ways that are both ethical and sustainable. With deep domain expertise and proven GenAI capabilities, Capgemini enables financial institutions to connect with the right customers, build loyalty and future-proof their workforce. 

Salesforce and Capgemini have been partnering with top financial institutions for over 15 years, helping them unlock the full potential of the Salesforce ecosystem, use data and AI to drive measurable outcomes, and deliver next-generation, omnichannel customer experiences.

In summary, by investing in agentic AI, Asian banks can achieve:

• Faster monetisation
• Improved operational efficiency
• Smarter, data-driven decisions
• A more empowered, AI-ready workforce

Read the full report for more insights.