BRI CEO Hery Gunardi Reveals AI Adoption as Key for Banks to Retain Customers

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology is pushing the banking industry into a new transformation phase. Financial services are no longer solely reliant on physical networks but are moving towards service models increasingly connected to the digital ecosystem and people’s daily activities. This situation means banks must continue to evolve to stay relevant amidst changing customer behaviour and rapidly developing industry dynamics.

BRI CEO Hery Gunardi revealed this during the ‘Business Talks’ session at the Jogja Financial Festival 2026 at the Jogja Expo Center, Yogyakarta (23/5). Hery highlighted how technological developments have changed the banking industry, from customer interaction patterns and service distribution models to financial industry competition, which is now increasingly based on a digital ecosystem.

According to Hery, banking is continuously changing and undergoing evolution. He then quoted the explanation of leading author Brett King, who has written extensively about banking. In the Bank 1.0 era, basic bank services involved transactions using only cheques and current accounts. Then came the Bank 2.0 era, which saw the emergence of automatic teller machines (ATMs) that could serve customers 24/7.

‘Then Bank 3.0 is also related to internet banking. So customers perhaps no longer need to come to bank branches; for corporate customers, they can make transactions from their offices using internet banking,’ Hery said.

‘And the fourth is financial technology, fintech, and also digitalisation. Now, digital has indeed changed the behaviour of existing customers, especially in Indonesia and also abroad, for example,’ he continued.

Digitalisation in the banking sector is progressing very rapidly, with the Covid-19 pandemic moment a few years ago accelerating the process further. ‘Customers could not come to branches. So those who were technologically illiterate, unable to use mobile banking, were forced to use mobile banking because they could not go to the ATM, could not come to the branch, could not transact at the teller, and so on,’ Hery stated.

‘So what does a bank do, according to Brett King? A bank is a technology company with a banking licence. In essence, a bank is a technology company,’ Hery said. This means, he continued, that under these conditions, banks will not be able to fight the advancement of the times.