Johannesburg, 15 Nov 2024
AI’s ability to transform financial services risk management and compliance will be explored in an upcoming executive forum to be presented by SAS, in partnership with ITWeb.
The event will unpack how AI and ML can reduce risks and biases associated with extending services to the unbanked and underbanked, with insights from South African banks on using AI and ML to manage credit risk and combat fraud.
The forum follows the release of a new global report on the use of GenAI in banking, which found that financial services leads other industries in implementing the technology, with three in five using GenAI to some degree, and most respondents reporting improved risk management and compliance as a result.
Itumeleng Nomlomo, senior business solutions manager at SAS in South Africa, says AI/ML has an important role to play in addressing the risks associated with offering financial services to the unbanked and underbanked in South Africa.
“As unbanked individuals are often beyond the reach of traditional financial systems, incorporating them into formal financial services can expose them to risks of fraud, insufficient financial literacy, and unfair credit practices,” she says.
“The unbanked often lack credit histories, leading institutions to rely on non-traditional data, which can inadvertently introduce biases if not responsibly managed. To this end, compliance and fair lending principles, such as those outlined in the South Africa's Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) framework, are essential to mitigate discrimination risks while ensuring financial services remain accessible and fair.”
Nomlomo says: “AI and ML models are transforming financial services by enabling more accurate credit scoring, fraud detection, and financial inclusion. These models leverage diverse data sources to assess creditworthiness for individuals without traditional credit histories.”
Advanced AI solutions can also analyse customer engagement and identify gaps in financial literacy among customers, enabling organisations to create targeted educational content to promote better financial decisions, she says.
Learn from global AI/ML applications in credit risk
At the Leveraging AI for Financial Inclusion executive forum in Rosebank, financial sector executives will learn how AI supports financial inclusion, and hear global experiences in the use of AI/ML in credit risk.
Alex Kwiatkowski, global financial services industry marketing director at SAS, will speak on ‘Banking 2035, enabling a new era of financial services’, and Marli Dietrichsen, Dietrichsen, head of decision science at Capitec, will present a talk on Innovation in Data.
In a breakout session on credit risk, Naeem Siddiqi, global advisory, risk management practice at SAS will outline the use of AI/ML in credit risk, and a panel discussion will feature insights from Brightwell Shezi, head: model risk assurance at Nedbank; Lerato Mabokela, head of credit, VAF Retail at Standard Bank and Marli Dietrichsen of Capitec.
A breakout session on fraud and compliance will include a talk by Stephanie Ora, global lead for financial crimes analytics at SAS on ‘AI/ML use cases in financial crimes, and a panel discussion on a pragmatic approach to AML and fraud convergence featuring Abu Baker Mehtar, customer and third-party risk solutions at LSEG; Evita Situma, senior specialist - financial crime compliance at Discovery Bank; and Thabang Mathonsi, head: fraud strategic analytics at ABSA.
The forum will end with a networking lunch for financial sector risk and compliance decision makers.
For more information and to register for this executive forum, go to https://www.itweb.co.za/event/sas-leveraging-ai-for-financial-inclusion/
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