Financial services
How banks and insurers use Microsoft technology: Copilot at scale under Microsoft 365 E7 governance, low-code agents for risk monitoring, document AI for claims and GitHub Copilot for legacy code, alongside DORA and EU AI Act duties.
The problem
Financial institutions carry heavy control workloads. At Banco Popular Dominicano, operational risk was reviewed periodically through sample-based manual checks. Insurers hit a similar bottleneck in claims: Direct pojistovna received forms, photos, scans and emails in mixed formats, processed by hand in office hours, so backlogs built up every evening and weekend.
Banks also run decades of older code. Lloyds Banking Group notes that developers fluent in modern languages often lack familiarity with older ones, while it also had to get tens of thousands of colleagues using generative AI in daily work.
All of this sits under sector rules. In the EU, DORA sets requirements for ICT risk management, incident reporting, resilience testing and oversight of third-party ICT providers such as cloud vendors.1234
The approach
Microsoft for Financial Services is described on Learn as a platform built on Microsoft Cloud infrastructure, with compliance and transparency tools (including Microsoft Purview, Azure Policy control mappings and policy content for many markets), industry guidance such as landing zones and reference architectures, and a data and AI layer with Copilot Studio and Foundry (the Learn page still uses the former name Azure AI Foundry). Microsoft's financial services page groups the offer into customer experience, employee productivity, risk, compliance and financial crime prevention, and core modernization.
Three published patterns stand out. Banco Popular Dominicano built AURA in Copilot Studio, with document, risk-analysis, conversational and supervisory agents, Power Automate flows and Power BI monitoring; analysts evaluate and decide, and every action is recorded for audit. Direct pojistovna and its partner BigHub built an agent system on Microsoft Foundry and Azure Document Intelligence for windshield claims with a person in the loop, and Microsoft reports handling time fell from 15 minutes to about 2 per claim. Lloyds Banking Group moved from 40,000 Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses to a Group-wide Microsoft 365 E7 agreement, with Agent 365 for agent control and GitHub Copilot used by more than 10,000 engineers.
Simpler routes exist. Rule-based workflow and OCR tools already handle many standardized forms, and core banking and policy systems often include case management. Agents add value where documents vary, volumes are high and the decision can stay with a person; they add risk where an automated output would itself become a regulated credit or underwriting decision.12567
Conceptual architecture
Diagram as a list
Copilot & business apps
- Analyst review and decision in Microsoft TeamsPeople evaluate proposals and decideConnects to Audit trail, data protection and compliance (Microsoft Purview)
Agents & automation
- Supervised agents (Copilot Studio or Microsoft Foundry)Validate, analyze and propose outcomes, overseen by supervisory agents
- Event-driven workflows (Power Automate)Trigger steps when documents, controls or matrices changeConnects to Core banking, policy and CRM systems
AI models & platform
- Document extraction (Azure Document Intelligence in Foundry Tools)Reads forms, scans and photos into structured fieldsConnects to Supervised agents (Copilot Studio or Microsoft Foundry)
Data & analytics
- Inbound documents, emails and claimsUnstructured material that starts each caseConnects to Document extraction (Azure Document Intelligence in Foundry Tools)
- Core banking, policy and CRM systemsSystems of record updated after a decision
Security, identity & governance
- Audit trail, data protection and compliance (Microsoft Purview)Records each action and protects regulated data
Technologies and their roles
Microsoft Copilot Studio1
Low-code risk agents
Banco Popular Dominicano built and runs the AURA agent ecosystem in Copilot Studio, and business experts adjust agents without technical teams.
Foundry Tools2
Document extraction
Direct pojistovna uses Azure Document Intelligence, now part of Foundry Tools, to read claim documents.
Microsoft 365 E77
Governed Copilot and agents at scale
Lloyds is rolling out Microsoft 365 E7, which bundles Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Agent 365.
GitHub Copilot3
Legacy code work
Lloyds engineers used GitHub Copilot to convert 11,000 lines of legacy code across 83 files in half the expected time.
Microsoft Purview5
Compliance controls
Named on Microsoft for Financial Services as the risk and compliance layer for data protection and regulatory requirements.
What you need first4
- A register of ICT third-party arrangements, with exit plans, for each cloud service in scope of DORA
- Human approval points for every agent step that affects a customer outcome or a risk rating
- Audit logs retained in line with record-keeping rules
- A narrow first process with clear rules, such as one claim type
- Model risk management sign-off for generative AI use
Risks and how to reduce them
- DORA third-party and incident duties4
- Map each Microsoft service to your ICT third-party register and incident classification process; Microsoft offers Purview Compliance Manager templates mapped to DORA third-party requirements.
- High-risk AI under the EU AI Act8
- Credit scoring for loans is listed as high-risk, with Annex III obligations applying from 2 December 2027 after the AI Omnibus; keep agents advisory and document human oversight now.
- Automated decisions without accountability1
- Follow Banco Popular's model: the agent analyzes and proposes, the analyst decides, and every action is logged.
- Vendor-stated outcome figures1
- Banco Popular's coverage and capacity figures appear in Microsoft's story without a named source or method; measure your own baseline before committing.
Documented examples
Direct pojišťovna (part of the Direct group)
In productionDirect pojišťovna: AI agents for windshield claims
15 minutes to about 2 minutes (87% less) (measured)
Financial services, Czechia
Banco Popular Dominicano
In productionBanco Popular Dominicano: AURA agents for operational risk
100% coverage (measured)
Financial services, Dominican Republic
Lloyds Banking Group
ScalingLloyds Banking Group: Copilot and GitHub Copilot at scale
46 minutes per day (measured)
Financial services, United Kingdom
Related
Sources
- Banco Popular Dominicano multiplies risk analysis 7X with Microsoft Power Platform (opens in a new tab)
- Direct Pojišťovna automates claims, cutting processing time by 87% with Azure AI (opens in a new tab)
- How Lloyds Banking Group's pioneering use of AI at scale is transforming employee experience and turbocharging operations (opens in a new tab)
- Navigating DORA compliance (Microsoft Trust Center) (opens in a new tab)
- What is Microsoft for Financial Services? (opens in a new tab)
- Microsoft for Financial Services | Microsoft AI (opens in a new tab)
- Lloyds Banking Group rolls out Microsoft 365 Frontier Suite to power its agentic future (opens in a new tab)
- AI Act: regulatory framework for AI (opens in a new tab)
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