MUFG Adopts Cloud-First Strategy With AWS to Reduce Costs, Innovate

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Japan’s largest financial services provider, has signed a multiyear global agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to accelerate its digital transformation. 

This collaboration aims to leverage AWS’s cloud technologies, including generative artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), to enhance customer service, reduce IT operating costs and develop new digital financial products, the companies said in a Tuesday (Nov. 14) press release. 

By adopting a cloud-first strategy with AWS as its preferred cloud provider, MUFG has already experienced significant benefits, according to the release. The transition from on-premises data centers to AWS has resulted in a 20% reduction in IT operating costs. Additionally, operating in the cloud has enabled MUFG to innovate personalized financial services more rapidly, providing clients with faster financial processing times and secure access to digital services. 

One example of MUFG’s digital innovation is the development of Money Canvas, a secure asset management platform, the release said. This platform allows customers to use their mobile devices to select and manage the financial services offered by MUFG and its partner companies. Through a single mobile app, customers can access a broad range of financial products and services, such as stocks, mutual funds, crowdfunding, insurance and loyalty point management. 

MUFG is also leveraging generative AI and ML to reinvent customer experiences across all lines of its business, per the release. By using Amazon Bedrock, a service that provides multiple foundation models (FMs) via an application programming interface (API), MUFG is experimenting with building generative AI applications. The company plans to explore over 100 potential generative AI use cases, ranging from customer service to finance, human resources and sales. 

MUFG has already achieved a 30% increase in productivity by automating account transfer requests using Amazon SageMaker, a fully managed service for building, training and deploying ML models, according to the press release. 

Furthermore, MUFG is utilizing AWS analytics tools to gain insights from data and improve decision-making processes, the release said. By using Amazon Redshift, a cloud data warehouse, MUFG can turn data into predictive insights to optimize sales activities, enhance customer interactions and improve operational efficiencies. The bank is also using Amazon QuickSight, a cloud-based business intelligence service, to aggregate survey response data and distribute response results with its Pulse Survey platform. 

Global banks are beginning to explore the possibilities of generative AI so as not to miss out on the impact the technology is poised to have on the financial services sector, PYMNTS reported in July. 

For example, Goldman Sachs deployed an AI-powered networking platform to help employees network at a time when many are working remotely. In another example, Deutsche Bank is exploring how to use generative AI to automate process-driven tasks and increase productivity.