ICBC president: Commercial banks face tougher AI transition than central banks

Key facts

• Commercial banks bear direct financial and legal liability for AI deployment, unlike central banks.
• ICBC is upgrading its strategy to AI-ICBC, embracing AI for business transformation.
• AI applications are deployed across over 500 scenarios at ICBC.
• Intelligent pricing assistant at ICBC increased transaction automation to 96% and transaction volume by 50% year-on-year.
• ICBC plans to develop enterprise-level data infrastructure and financial AI agents.

Commercial banks are facing a more difficult adjustment to artificial intelligence than central banks, according to Liu Jun, president of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). Speaking at the Shanghai Bund Summit on Monday, Liu stated that while central bankers focus on oversight and policy, commercial lenders carry direct financial and legal exposure when deploying AI at scale. He explained that ICBC's application of AI tools across business lines means the bank bears responsibility for the outcomes, including compensating affected parties and responding to the market if issues arise. ICBC, the world's largest lender by assets, is actively transforming its operations by upgrading its strategy to AI-ICBC, emphasizing computing power, algorithms, data, and security. The bank has deployed AI applications in over 500 scenarios, including an intelligent pricing assistant that boosted transaction automation to 96% and increased transaction volume by 50% year-on-year. ICBC plans further AI integration as part of its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30).