Dr Pius Kwao Gadossey, a Lecturer at Lancaster University, Ghana, has charged the financial sector of Ghana to infuse Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the sector, noting that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the financial space will boost the security of companies by alerting institutions of any discrepancies or unusual activity for prompt actions.

The Lecturer made this known at a public lecture organised by the Institute of Compliance and Cyber Studies (ICCS), and a graduation ceremony which saw eight students graduate as Chartered Compliance and Cyber Analysts. Speaking on the theme, “Relevance of AI in the Financial Industry”, he averred that banks are using machine learning algorithms not only to determine a person’s loan eligibility but also to provide personalized options.

“Machine learning can help experts use data to project trends, identify risks, conserve manpower and ensure better information for future planning.”
Dr Pius Kwao Gadossey

Dr Gadossey asserted that the presence of AI in the financial sector will ensure that clients and financial institutions’ monies and their personal information are safe and secured, as well as prevented from cyber-attacks.

“AI is not biased and can decide on loan eligibility quickly and more accurately”.
Dr Pius Kwao Gadossey

He explained that AI is the ability of a computer programme or a machine to think or learn. Highlighting the importance of AI, Mr Gadossey noted that, it provides human-like interventions with software and offers decision support for specific tasks.

AI to Hugely Benefit the Financial Sector

Dr Gadossey explained that AI fraud detection systems analyses a person’s buying behaviour and trigger an alert if something seems out of the ordinary or contradicted traditional spending patterns.

“The use of applications like chatbot and virtual have reduced the need to spend time on the phone waiting to speak with a customer service representative”.
Dr Pius Kwao Gadossey

In the intervening time, he cited the Bank of America’s “chatbot Erica“, indicating that it has served more than 10 million users. “As of mid-2019, Erica was able to understand almost 500,000 question variations.”

Mr Eebenezer Domesew, Board Member of Institute of Compliance and Cyber Studies, touching on the “relevance of Risk-Based Auditing in the Financial Industry”, averred that competitiveness has been toughened in the face of the increased presence of multinational companies which have embraced the advantages of technology.

Mr Eebenezer Domesew stated that adopting risk management practices, gives higher financial performance and a highly competitive edge in the world market.

The graduands were presented with a certificate for successfully graduating from the course. Mr Jude Apoore Azure won the best Governance and Ethics award while Mr Richard Nyarko emerged as the Audit and Tax Compliance award winner.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly deployed by financial services providers across industries within the financial sector. It has the potential to transform business models and markets for trading, credit and blockchain-based finance, generate efficiencies, reduce friction and enhance the product offerings. With this potential, comes the concern that AI could also amplify risks already present in financial markets, or give rise to new challenges and risks.

Therefore, the call for Ghanaian financial sector to include artificial intelligence into its operation can only help to strengthen the sector.