We sat down with Margus Simon Chief Digital Officer, Komerční Banka at FTT AI Transformation last June to discuss the shift AI is bringing to financial services. Margus has spent the last seven years leading a complete modernisation of the institution. Under his leadership, the bank replaced its core banking system, rebuilt digital channels, modernised approximately 100 interconnected systems, and transformed its entire business and customer service model.

During our conversation, Margus shared that AI will reshape banking as profoundly as the internet did over the past 30 years and it will happen three times faster. Products, revenue models, customer expectations, user experiences, governance frameworks, compliance protocols, IT security architectures, development methodologies, and workforce skills, all of it must be rebuilt. The critical question is whether banks are ready for this journey. Many are still exhausted from digital transformation programmes, carrying unresolved legacy issues from the past two decades. The risk is not moving too fast and breaking trust; it is failing to innovate quickly enough to remain competitive. Margus’s advice is clear: pilot extensively, experiment relentlessly, and learn continuously. The greater danger today is not making mistakes, it is being unable to innovate at all.

Want to understand what it takes to lead a full technology transformation at a bank? If the technology evolves faster than you can adopt it, how do you build a foundation that lasts? Watch the full interview to hear more.

And for more on the fast-growing impact of AI tools and technology across the financial services sector and beyond, join us at the next FTT AI Transformation, which runs on 9-10 November in London.