At the Huawei Cloud FinTech Summit Middle East and Central Asia 2023, held as part of Abu Dhabi Finance Week (ADFW) in the United Arab Emirates, Huawei Cloud introduced the Pangu finance model and the distributed database GaussDB specifically designed for the financial sector. This release signifies the global expansion of these cutting-edge solutions beyond China for the first time.
Frank Dai, President of Huawei Cloud Middle East and Central Asia, underscored the transformative potential of the finance model during the Summit. He highlighted its capacity to reshape every crucial aspect of the financial service chain. Dai emphasised the importance of collaborative innovation among financial institutions, focusing on high-quality data to fully harness the capabilities of foundation models. Leveraging productivity, intelligence, and computing power is crucial for this collaborative effort.
Dai advocated for unlocking innovative value through scenario-driven approaches, combining foundational models with financial expertise, and establishing a robust computing power foundation for efficient model training. This collaborative approach empowers financial institutions to create more sophisticated finance models, contributing to comprehensive intelligence and driving the flywheel effect of the finance model, propelling the financial industry towards greater intelligence.
“In the financial industry, foundation models can help financial institutions greatly enhance operational efficiency, minimise expenses, and foster innovation,” Frank said in his keynote speech, “The collaboration of productivity, intelligence, and computing power enables the optimal utilisation of the finance model. These three elements align with the scenario layer, model layer, and foundation layer of the financial model solution, respectively.”
In the realm of scenarios, AI models assume a pivotal role in financial production, acting as valuable aids for both service and IT technical personnel. They prove instrumental in tasks like intelligent data analytics, automatic coding, automatic credit report generation, and intelligent customer services. The integration of these applications significantly amplifies work efficiency and raises the overall standard of customer experience.
Operating at the model layer, this platform enhances the technical capabilities of foundation models, thereby imbuing the finance model with heightened intelligence. Furthermore, the finance model undergoes enrichment through the infusion of expert financial knowledge and data, elevating its level of professionalism.
The effectiveness and calibre of model training hinge on a robust computing foundation that facilitates swift updates and iterations of an AI model. The foundation layer stands as a critical determinant for the seamless operation of the model, shaping its overall performance.
The implementation of the finance model in the industry is a multifaceted endeavour. Frank emphasised Huawei Cloud’s commitment to collaborating with financial institutions to unlock the potential of models and enhance intelligent productivity across various stages, encompassing blueprint planning, implementation, and continuous operations.
Cloud-native technology has gained wide popularity among organisations in various industries as they strive to embrace digital transformation. Financial institutions, being at the forefront of digitalisation, are actively thinking and acting cloud native. Simultaneously, data has emerged as one of the most valuable assets for these institutions. In the era of models, effectively utilising and managing data has become a top priority for successful model implementation. Alex Zhao, the General Manager of Global Finance for Huawei Public Cloud Business, unveiled Huawei’s next-gen distributed database GaussDB at the event.
GaussDB is a database that caters to the specific needs of the financial industry. It utilises software-hardware synergy to provide high availability, security, performance, and elasticity. GaussDB is easy to deploy and migrate, making it an ideal solution for the financial industry to quickly launch purpose-built services.
Technologies are driving financial innovation. When introducing Huawei Cloud’s innovative and upgraded financial digital solutions, Alex said, “Huawei Cloud has been engaged in the digital transformation of the financial industry for many years. Through innovation in resilient infrastructure, agile applications, and intelligent business, Huawei Cloud provides better options for global financial customers.”
Furthermore, aside from being driven by technology, the importance of being driven by business is also emphasised in financial innovation. In various business scenarios, Huawei Cloud and its ecosystem partners possess both capabilities and success stories that contribute to the acceleration of financial innovation, and Huawei Cloud showcased them during the Summit. The Middle East, known for its high mobile Internet penetration rate, provides an excellent infrastructure for FinTech. Digital banking, mobile finance, consumer finance, and Web3 finance have become mainstream use cases in the finance industry. With a focus on these four major use cases, Huawei Cloud collaborates with ecosystem partners to assist financial institutions in achieving business success across channel interaction, mid-end platforms, and core systems.
During the Summit, Huawei Cloud signed MoUs with Emirates Digital Wallet, Finmaal, and Klaim.ai, a move that will play an important role in in-depth cooperation between Huawei Cloud and partners in terms of cloud-native and AI models.
