Ling said while Malaysia may not be at the forefront globally, it is “not far behind”, adding that local banks are actively investing in both technology and talent development to strengthen their digital capabilities.

“The conversation has shifted from awareness to adoption.

“We’re no longer just talking about AI, we’re implementing it. This phase will continue to evolve as the technology matures,” he said at a roundtable discussion at the International Conference on Financial Crime and Counter Terrorism Financing (IFCTF 2025) here today.

At MyFintech Week 2025 in August, Bank Negara Malaysia governor Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said that according to BNM’s AI survey, 71% of local banking and development financial institutions had implemented at least one AI application by the end of last year, a sharp increase from 56% in 2023.

He said most of these applications were designed to assist human decision-making, mostly in customer analytics, improving operations, and preventing fraud.

Organised crime, not terrorism

Asked whether any terrorist-linked networks have attempted to use AI to deceive banks, Carlotta Zenere, a programme management officer from the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute in Italy, said there have not yet been any observed cases of such.

“For the time being, it’s not really terrorist (groups), but mostly organised crime. When it comes to finance, we’ve seen that the major actors have been organised crime networks,” she said.

She said these syndicates work through proxies and intermediaries, and are already employing AI to disguise their identities and carry out scams of all kinds.