Precision drives finance. A single mistake can ripple through markets, draining millions or even billions in seconds.

Take Citibank. In early 2025, a simple transaction turned into an $81 trillion mistake. What should have been a $280 transfer ballooned into a sum larger than the GDP of the world’s biggest economies combined. It took three employees and 90 minutes to catch the blunder. By then, the damage could have been irreversible. That wasn’t a one-off either — Citibank reported ten more “near miss” errors exceeding $1 billion last year alone.

The popular US departmental store Macy’s faced its own financial nightmare. A single employee buried $151 million in hidden expenses over three years, forcing the retailer to delay its earnings report and adjust profit forecasts. The mistake rocked investor confidence and sent ripples through the business.

These aren’t isolated incidents. A Gartner survey actually found that 59 percent of accountants admit to making financial errors every single week. In an industry where numbers rule, these errors can be fatal.

The problem? Outdated workflows and human oversight. We have seen these first hand when designing the solutions for Summit.

AI becomes a gatekeeper

Finance teams juggle endless transactions, approvals, and audits. Mistakes slip through. A miskeyed number. An overlooked approval. A buried expense report. It’s only human, which is where AI steps in.

Singapore’s financial sector is already moving in this direction — the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) committed S$100 million in 2024 to boost AI capabilities, aiming to strengthen financial oversight and risk management. AI acts as a second set of eyes, constantly monitoring transactions, approvals, and financial workflows to detect and prevent errors before they escalate.

In fact, the change brought on by AI has already been set in motion. A 2024 report revealed that 89 percent of financial institutions in Singapore are exploring or have implemented generative AI, with 65% actively integrating it into their operations.

AI-driven finance tools continuously analyse financial data, detecting irregularities, duplicate transactions, and potential fraud within seconds. Advanced machine learning models learn from past errors, improving accuracy over time. Automated policy checkers, like the one we use at Summit, enforce compliance by cross-referencing transactions against company policies, regulatory requirements, and historical spending patterns.

Suspicious entries trigger immediate alerts for review, while AI-powered approval workflows ensure every transaction follows the correct chain of command. Smart routing directs approvals to the right people, while digital audit trails provide full transparency and accountability.

Tackling the manpower crunch

AI minimizes financial risk and saves companies millions in preventable losses. But adoption isn’t without hurdles. A 2023 survey indicated that 44 percent of local financial institutions cited a shortage of AI and data analytics talent as a significant challenge. To bridge this gap, MAS launched the Financial Sector AI and Data Analytics (AIDA) Talent Development Programme, focusing on upskilling finance professionals. It allows finance professionals to focus on strategy, not firefighting. It’s the difference between spotting a leak early and watching a dam break.

We’ve seen this in effect firsthand. Our workflow and spend compliance automation tools help finance teams tighten controls without adding more red tape. Designed by finance professionals for finance teams, these are solutions that eliminate blind spots, so no one wakes up to an $81 trillion shock.

The financial world moves fast. Errors move faster. And regulators are paying attention. AI isn’t just a competitive edge anymore, it has become a necessity. For finance teams, it’s time to stop playing catch-up and start getting ahead of the curve with AI as their ally.

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