The Convergence of Distributed Ledger Technology and Artificial Intelligence: An end-to-end Reference Lending Process for Financial Services

Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) represent two potential disruptive technologies at the top of their hype cycle. Subsequently, questions arise what impact these technologies can have on future business models, especially for service-driven industries like the financial sector. While various assumptions in practice indicate a complementary usage of both DLT and AI to generate new value creation potentials, current literature and research remains scarce. To understand possible synergies for financial services, a segregated perspective on DLT or AI alone is not enough. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to gain first insights how specific elements of these technologies can be mutually implemented and combined for a potential technological convergence on basis of an end-to-end lending reference process. Building upon the existing body of knowledge and based on Design Science Research, an instantiation of the re-designed process has been created in three iterative cycles. The process prototype demonstrates that DLT and AI are complementary technologies and mostly do not compete against each other with a focus on subsequent synergies. Finally, a comparative overview of the impact on the respective sub-processes has been elaborated to conduct principles for the design and development of future distributed-ledger-based AI applications.