AI in Private Banking: SMU Students Showcase Sustainable Finance Innovations
At the National Sustainability Case Challenge 2025, undergraduate students from Singapore’s universities pitched ideas on how private banks can leverage AI while ensuring ESG compliance. SMU students emerged as prize winners at the case challenge, with the teams RMR Partners and Chulia Street Consulting winning 3rd and 4th prizes, respectively. The teams shared more about their winning strategies, and how they tapped on their diverse strengths to deliver these innovations.
From virtual assistants to algorithms that detect potential defaulters, banks are embracing the AI wave to enhance efficiencies across functions.
But as AI adoption becomes more widespread, how can private banks ensure its implementation adheres to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles?
That was the problem statement posed to 57 participating teams at the National Sustainability Case Challenge 2025, a competition jointly organised by Earthlink NTU and Bank of Singapore.
Open to university undergraduates in Singapore, the case challenge required participants to pitch ideas that address the problem statement. Six teams were then shortlisted to present their case to a panel of judges.
Two teams that comprised SMU students—RMR Partners and Chulia Street Consulting—rose to the challenge, emerging as the second and third runners-up. Tackling different pain points in customer experience, each team delivered banking solutions that leverage the power of AI, while ensuring ESG compliance.
RMR Partners: Tackling real-world challenges faced by private banking customers
RMR Partners distinguished themselves through rigorous primary research—gathering fresh data through interviews—and a deep understanding of client needs.
“We interviewed family and friends in Indonesia to better understand their pain points and expectations when interacting with private banks. We also managed to interview high-net-worth (HNW) individuals to understand their concerns,” shared Raphael Tandiono, a member of RMR Partners. HNW individuals are typically defined as those with at least $1 million in liquid financial assets.
Their research revealed three critical challenges in private banking, to which they pitched solutions. These include:
- AI-powered know-your-customer (KYC) processes: Streamlines the onboarding processes
- 24/7 chatbot support that provides accurate information quickly: Mitigates complex daily support and portfolio management across multiple jurisdictions and asset types
- AI-assisted legacy planning: Prepares future generations with the right skills and emotional responsibility for wealth management
RMR Partners designed their solutions to not only align with ESG standards, but also actively promote their adoption in the private banking industry. This included ensuring AI compliance with local and international standards, and projecting calculations on how AI use can reduce emissions and improve work conditions in private banking.
Raphael credited their holistic solution to the members’ varied expertise, leveraging each member’s individual strengths. Making up the “RMR” in the team’s name are:
- Raphael Tandiono, College of Integrative Studies (CIS) student, majoring in Sustainable Strategy, Operations, and Finance
- Mathew Marchel Lim, School of Social Sciences student, majoring in Politics, Law, and Economics
- Raymond John Benjamin Wijaya, Lee Kong Chian School of Business student, majoring in Finance and Data Science
“The diversity within our team made this experience especially meaningful. We came from different SMU schools and co-curricular activities, yet share a common identity as Indonesians passionate about sustainable innovation,” explained Raphael.
Chulia Street Consulting: Designing a team of AI advisors for personalised wealth management
Meet Aileen, Aidan, and Aishah. They are not members of Chulia Street Consulting, but distinct, specialised AI systems that form an integrated platform named Bersama. They were ideated by Chulia Street Consulting to enhance the entire client journey in private banking.
- Aileen is an onboarding assistant that streamlines the KYC process, providing relationship managers with an interactive ESG profiling system.
- Aidan serves to enhance investment intelligence through proactive portfolio insights, advanced risk management, and community engagement tools.
- Aishah acts as a philanthropy advisor, guiding clients in planning and executing charitable goals.
Together with teammates from other universities, the team designed these AI tools to address current inefficiencies in private banking and wealth management processes. The tools are also aimed at empowering clients to make informed decisions, while increasing transparency and enhancing data integrity across the client journey.
“We believe our winning formula was the combination of a holistic, client-centric approach with deep technical feasibility. Our proposal reimagined the client journey in private banking through innovative AI applications, while staying grounded in real, validated pain points,” shared Eunice Goh Qi Wen and Foo Zhuo Zhen, SMU Business students from the Chulia Street Consulting team.
The students also leveraged their interdisciplinary learning experience to unite their diverse perspectives into a compelling solution while honing their skills in team communication and collaboration. “We split responsibilities based on our individual strengths and areas of interest, with each member focusing on different components of our solution to ensure depth and synergy.”
Lessons Beyond the Podium
By participating in the National Sustainability Case Challenge, both teams demonstrated the need for technical innovation to be grounded in genuine understanding of client needs and market realities. Their success reflects SMU’s commitment to preparing students to address complex, real-world challenges.
“The experience gave us first-hand application of what we have learnt inside seminar rooms,” RMR Partners reflected. “ESG, like AI, is here to stay. Those that do not adapt will be left behind, incurring both opportunity and operational costs.”
“The most rewarding part was the final presentation itself. It was an opportunity to share our ideas with a panel of industry leaders and receive thoughtful feedback,” said Eunice and Zhuo Zhen. “The experience also taught us the importance of staying user-focused, while designing innovative solutions that are scalable and sustainable.”
Shaping Future Sustainability Leaders
In a world where sustainability is becoming as important as productivity and profitability, RMR Partners and Chulia Street Consulting’s ideas have clear potential to become a reality—perhaps sooner than we think.
Explore how SMU empowers students to lead in sustainability. Discover our Sustainability Education Framework.
