NatWest has appointed its first Chief AI Research Officer, announcing that Dr Maja Pantic will take on the role to advance the bank’s AI capabilities.

Dr Pantic will aim to use AI to meet customer needs, drive cutting-edge research and innovation across the bank, as well as support NatWest’s strategic focus on bank-wide simplification.

Dr Pantic’s AI research expertise is routed in her previous positions as an AI Scientific Research Director at Meta London, and Founding Research Director of Samsung AI Research Centre in Cambridge. She is currently serving as Professor of Affective and Behavioural Computing at Imperial College London.

As the bank continues to build on differentiating AI capabilities to anticipate customer expectations and deliver bank-wide simplification, the new chief AI research officer will have a range of focuses.

This includes accelerating state-of-the-art AI use cases, such as the use of multimodal AI (including voice or video) to combat deepfakes and generative AI to advance responsible AI controls.

Further, the new position lead research and innovation to provide a forward-looking view on Ai advancements, as well as how they impact the banking industry, with anticipations of future shifts in behaviour and technology.

Dr Pantic will also be responsible for progressing the use of AI for bank-wide simplification by accelerating the use of AI tools and automation to enable colleagues to be more productive, efficient, and focus on activities that matter.

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“It’s not the first time I’ve said that AI is helping us to be a simpler NatWest and to transform our customers’ experiences as we become even more of a trusted partner in the moments that matter most,” Scott Marcar CIO of NatWest Group said.

“Maja’s appointment is another important and exciting milestone; her unique skills and experience will help us adapt and meet customers’ changing needs faster, and more effectively, whilst complementing our team’s existing capabilities.”

Dr Maja Pantic commented: “My career decisions have always been guided by two things: the opportunity to make an impact and the chance to learn. Joining a business like NatWest – given the vital role it plays in the lives of the customers and communities it serves – will not only give me the opportunity to work at the forefront of technological shifts in the banking industry at an immense scale, but to learn from leaders who instil a culture of learning and innovation throughout the bank.”