  The paradigm of machine learning and artificial intelligence has pervaded our
everyday life in such a way that it is no longer an area for esoteric academics
and scientists putting their effort to solve a challenging research problem.
The evolution is quite natural rather than accidental. With the exponential
growth in processing speed and with the emergence of smarter algorithms for
solving complex and challenging problems, organizations have found it possible
to harness a humongous volume of data in realizing solutions that have
far-reaching business values. This introductory chapter highlights some of the
challenges and barriers that organizations in the financial services sector at
the present encounter in adopting machine learning and artificial
intelligence-based models and applications in their day-to-day operations.
