The use of AI promises a new era of disruptive opportunity as it permeates our lives and affects our future. For many industries outside financial services AI is a strategic priority and we will look at its adoption and the impact it has on reshaping businesses. This opening session will discuss how AI is spreading beyond the technology sector, and its consequences for companies and consumers.

Speaker:

• Janet Adams, Head of AI, TSB Bank

The way in which AI will transform our businesses and our understanding of the environment in which we operate in the future, delivering benefits for us, our customers and the wider economy. How AI is already driving change and delivering significant efficiencies, in particular in preventing financial crime at single bank and network level.

Speaker:

• Marc Corbalan, Product Management, Vocalink, a Mastercard company

AI is a blanket description covering a variety of increasingly sophisticated tools and techniques such as machine learning, business intelligence, deep learning, natural language processing and use of algorithms. The session will explore the benefits of each and how they create value- why one differs from another and their use in financial services. From chatbots and virtual assistants to the personalisation of data.

Speakers:

• Jonathan Orritt, Data Scientist, Santander
• Roshan Rohatgi, Artificial Intelligence Lead, RBS
• Janet Adams, Head of AI, TSB Bank

There is no alternative to AI adoption across the sector. Recent studies show that almost eight-in-ten banks and lenders (79%) said they recognise the value of AI but are short of the expertise and capacity to develop and deploy it within their organisations. What are the implications of this and how are they overcome? How banks can foster the best talent and creative partnerships to deliver the best applications to their business?

Speaker:

• Karan Jain, Head of Technology Europe and Americas, Westpac

Banks turn to the use of AI-powered technologies to improve existing processes and develop new solutions to meet a number of needs. But how do they turn successful pilots and proof of concepts into solutions they can scale and put into production to achieve real results? What business areas benefit most from the application of AI and how do you establish a clear link between them and the measurable value it brings to companies?

Speakers:

• Karan Jain, Head of Technology Europe and Americas, Westpac
• Maciej Janusz, Head of Cash Management Nordic Region, Citibank
• Dan Reid, CTO and Founder, Xceptor
• Abhijit Akerkar, Head of Applied Sciences, Business Integration, Lloyds Banking Group

The battle against increasingly sophisticated cyber criminals is a major industry challenge. A session on the growing menace of financial crime and how to tackle it through the use of AI to manage vast volumes of data, often in real-time, and deploy pattern recognition to identify unusual trends to detect and prevent fraud. And in an increasingly interconnected world how do we manage our digital identifies and authenticate ourselves more effectively?

Speakers:

• Marc Corbalan, Product Management, Vocalink, a Mastercard company
• David Hardie, Fraud Prevention Manager, Royal Bank of Scotland

As decision-making using AI becomes more accepted, an ethical filter on such programming is crucial. How can you ensure that outputs suggested by an AI model based on pure economics don’t betray the softer strategies of a bank, to avoid bias and discrimination? How do you govern it within an organisation and ‘teach’ AI to align to a bank brand and ethos? How does AI augment the role of the human workforce and how do the two co-exist?

Speakers:

• Ekene Uzoma, VP Digital Product Development, State Street
• Monica Monaco, Founder, TrustEU Affairs
• Terry Cordeiro, Head of Product Management - Applied Science and Intelligent Products, Lloyds Bank
• Michael Conway, Associate Partner, Global Business Services, IBM

If you can’t explain what AI models inside your bank are doing and how they reach results that decisions are based upon then they should not be used. How can AI actions be trusted, easily understood and explained? Decisions are often reached on a spread of probabilities but how do you govern and audit the outcome to replicate current controls?

Speaker:

• Rajiv Desai, SVP - US Operations, Pelican

When it comes to AI and programming a machine to make a decision, half the point is being able to relinquish the decision-making process to the machine to save time. What, then, does a fully transparent and auditable model look like when the time comes to explain and stand by every decision that is made? This is where use of analytics and testing comes into play. Where it isn't possible to explain how the inner workings of a complicated model reaches its decisions- then the performance or the outcome must be tested in all manner of scenarios and input data. It is important to distinguish between AI and explainable analytics when developing trustworthy models.

Speakers:

• Dr Michael Dewar, Head of AI/Analytics, Vocalink, a Mastercard company
• Jason Maude, Head of Technology Advocacy, Starling Bank
• Jonathan Williams, Principal Consultant, Mk2 Consulting

A panel to draw together the thoughts of the day and look at the future of AI over the next five years. How is the banking sector morphing into wider adoption of AI? How is this transition taking place and what are the effects? How will banks’ business models evolve and how will customers benefit? Specifically, we will focus on the B2B sector and the effect on corporate cash services- should this be a collaborative approach, or a combination of home-grown and external skills and partnerships? What are the gains and challenges for banks?

Speakers:

• Ruth Wandhofer, Head of Regulatory & Industry, Coinfirm
• Sameer Dubey, Barclays
• Nick Fahy, CEO, Cynergy Bank
• Rajiv Desai, SVP - US Operations, Pelican