SINGAPORE — OCBC Bank is now offering scholarships to postgraduate students taking the Artificial Intelligence master’s programmes at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

Three students will be awarded the OCBC AI Scholarship this year for a start, said the bank in a statement on Monday (June 3).

The scholarship is worth up to S$100,000 each.

This is the first AI scholarship to be offered by a Singapore company, and the first by any bank in Asia, said OCBC.

The scholarship includes a 12- to 18-month stint at OCBC AI Lab upon graduation, where scholars will test, implement and grow bank-wide AI solutions.

OCBC has been using AI for customer service and to augment staff roles since 2016, with the use of chatbots to answer customers’ queries as well as human resource-related queries from the bank’s staff themselves.

Using AI to make personalised product recommendations — which took into consideration customers’ demographics and lifestyles — has also led to an increase of about S$10 million in monthly revenue since 2018, said OCBC.

THE SCHOLARSHIP

During the course of study, scholars will be given internship opportunities, as well as receive “mentorship and guidance” from the bank’s senior executives, said OCBC.

Scholarship applicants will be put through “different forms of assessments”, such as a coding test where they have to solve a problem within 24 hours.

This comes on top of demonstrating a keen interest in AI, and “excellent” academic and leadership qualities, added the bank.

“We are looking to attract and develop top talents to create new roads for us,” said OCBC AI Lab’s head Ken Wong.

“Individuals who are passionately aligned with us in taking AI to the next level will be able contribute meaningfully to help create new frontiers of banking.”