SINGAPORE - The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will be working with financial industry partners on an initiative known as Veritas - a framework for financial institutions to promote the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics.
This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat in his speech outlining Singapore's national AI strategy at the Singapore FinTech Festival and Singapore Week of Innovation and TeCHnology (SFF x SWITCH) conference on Wednesday (Nov 13).
"AI has the potential to transform financial services, but must be used in a safe and responsible manner," he told the audience.
The Veritas framework will enable financial institutions to evaluate their AI and data analytics-driven solutions against the principles of fairness, ethics, accountability and transparency (FEAT) that MAS co-created with the financial industry last year. This is targeted at strengthening internal governance on the application of AI and the management and use of data.
Veritas aims to provide financial institutions with a verifiable way to incorporate the FEAT principles into their AI and data analytics solutions. It will comprise open source tools that can be applied to different business lines, such as retail banking and corporate finance, and in different markets.
For a start, Veritas will focus on use cases in three areas: customer marketing, risk scoring and fraud detection. The initiative forms part of Singapore's national AI plan, and intends to build a progressive and trusted environment for AI adoption within the financial sector.
The Veritas consortium is made up of 17 members, comprising MAS, SGInnovate, EY and 14 financial institutions. The consortium will produce a report on its findings and conclusions in the second half of 2020. Interested organisations are welcomed to participate in the consortium, said MAS in a statement.
David Hardoon, special advisor (artificial intelligence) at MAS, said: "With FEAT and Veritas, financial institutions will have the guideposts and toolkit to institute sound AI governance practices.
"This will pave the way for a vibrant and responsible AI-driven financial centre in Singapore."
