Inaugural FSI & AI Singapore Summit takes off

The key to success with data science is access to data and the ability to experiment with that data.

Guy Sheppard made this remark at the inaugural FSI & AI Singapore Summit by CDOTrends. PS: I'm a senior editor there.

This morning, the Chief Commercial Officer of Aboitiz Data Innovation spoke on The AI Future of FSIs to a packed room.

💡 Insights

Some noteworthy insights he shared:

1. Fighting fraud - Sheppard, who once helmed the team fighting financial crime at SWIFT had this to say about detecting scams: "You simply cannot find scams on new accounts using the old school analytical rules-based engines."
2. Impact of generative AI on FSI - The banking sector could reduce operating expenditures by as much as US$300 billion from the use of generative AI, according to figures by McKinsey. Of course, the challenge is how to get started.
3. A data marketplace - One way is through a data marketplace to securely share data with data scientists and professionals, he said, citing an actual customer. This can facilitate the production of AI models, glean insights, or create new data products.
4. The power of automation - Even marketing and sales teams can benefit from AI-powered automation, allowing the automatic scoring of investment proposals so that they get directed quickly to the right departments.
5. Managing internal content - Knowledge professionals spend as much as 20% of their time on information search and routine information retrieval processes. Here, AI can help legal professionals quickly identify not just well-indexed files, but other case files that are relevant to a query.

🎙️ My favourite quote

"As long as the data is accessible, then it can be sliced and diced in a way to gain relevant insights. Whether building a financial crime model, a segmentation model, a propensity model, or a scoring model, [it doesn't matter where the team is located]." - Guy Sheppard.

On a more sombre note, I learned that cases of highly organised cyber criminals breaching banks and making away with millions (or billions) are not always reported in the mainstream press.

But that's a story for another day.

😎 I also moderated a panel discussion on "Will AI live up to its potential in FSI?". Will share in another post.