Commencis AI NOW Roundtable: Exploring What’s Next for AI in Financial Services

On October 20, Commencis brought together leaders from the financial sector for AI NOW Roundtable, focused on the opportunities and decisions shaping the next phase of AI in financial services.

The half-day event began with breakfast and continued with four sessions exploring how AI is changing financial products, customer experiences, and the way organisations operate. Throughout the morning, participants shared their own perspectives and experiences, making the conversation as much about the realities of applying AI as its potential.

In the opening session, Duru Kızılkayak, Chief AI Officer, and Dorukhan Arslan, Head of AI, examined how AI is already transforming financial services and what it could mean for future business models. Drawing on real-world AI use cases in financial services, they explored the opportunities emerging as financial institutions find new ways to use AI across their businesses.

Sertan Arığ, Design Manager, and Yağmur Gökçe, Senior Lead UX Designer, turned the discussion to digital experiences. Their session looked beyond the interface to consider how AI is changing the ways people interact with financial services, and what that means for designing experiences that respond to evolving customer expectations.

As AI applications move beyond initial use cases, organisations face practical decisions about the technology behind them. Dorukhan Arslan and Can Zağnos, Staff AI Software Engineer, discussed how to balance technology, performance, and cost when scaling AI, including what AI cost optimization looks like in practice. The session focused on what it takes to make AI applications effective and sustainable as their use grows.

Identifying promising AI use cases is only the beginning. In the fourth session, Tuğba Erdem, Business Design Manager, and Mina Aksakal, AI Program Manager, explored how organisations can decide what to pursue first and move from pilots towards scalable initiatives.

They introduced Commencis AI Compass, an AI readiness assessment approach that helps organisations decide where to place their next AI bets. AI Compass brings together strategic priorities, organisational readiness, and sector context to assess opportunities in terms of business value and feasibility. The outcome is a prioritised backlog of AI opportunities and a 90-day plan that gives teams a clearer path from ambition to action.

The event closed with an open discussion led by Yücel Erbilgiç, Chief Business Officer. Together with participants, we considered the opportunities, priorities, and potential investment areas likely to shape AI in financial services in the coming period.

AI NOW gave us the opportunity to share Commencis’s AI work with financial sector leaders and, just as importantly, hear how they are approaching AI within their own organisations. We thank everyone who joined us and contributed to a thoughtful discussion about where the sector goes next.