Why ML Ops Is the Backbone of AI Success in Banking
The Promise and Pitfall of AI in Banking As banks today are racing to harness the power of artificial intelligence—deploying machine learning models for fraud detection, credit scoring, customer personalisation, and regulatory compliance. Yet, despite significant investments, many institutions struggle to realise the full value of their AI initiatives. The culprit? A disconnect between data […]
Why Model Risk Management Matters
Artificial intelligence has moved from experimentation to boardroom priority in a remarkably short time. Most large enterprises now run multiple AI initiatives — fraud detection systems, predictive analytics platforms, generative AI copilots, and customer intelligence tools. Yet one pattern has become increasingly clear to me over the past decade. Many organizations can build AI models. […]
Financial Inclusion Is Failing. The Problem Isn’t Access
For decades, the standard response to financial exclusion has been singular: “Improve Access.” We treated it as a logistical and infrastructure challenge. The strategy was clear: build branches, open accounts, and push entire populations previously unbanked into the formal system. The Illusion of Progress: Included in Form, Excluded in Function By our conventional metrics, the […]
The Rise of Autonomous Banking
For decades, banks have invested in becoming smarter. Today, intelligence is no longer the constraint. Execution is. The next competitive advantage in banking will not come from better insights, but from systems that can act on them. For years, banking and financial services have cycled through familiar themes such as digitalization, Big Data, and more […]
Basel III Model Validation for South African Banks: Meeting Prudential Authority Standards for AI Credit Risk and Collections Models
TL;DR On 24 November 2025, the Prudential Authority of the South African Reserve Bank and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority jointly published a report on artificial intelligence in South Africa’s financial sector. The report drew on analysis conducted throughout 2024 and set out, for the first time in a formal joint publication, the regulators’ view […]
TCF Outcome Measurement for Collections: How South African Banks Demonstrate Fair Treatment Under FSCA’s Six Outcomes Framework
TL;DR There is a well-known gap in how South African financial institutions handle the TCF framework. Every regulated bank and insurer has a TCF policy. Most have TCF training programmes. A significant number have TCF committees. What far fewer have is TCF outcome measurement for collections specifically: the operational data, the management information reports, and […]
NCA Affordability Assessment with AI: How South African Lenders Use Machine Learning for Compliant Credit Decisioning
TL;DR In March 2026, the Webber Wentzel case law tracker published an update on a judgment that clarified a credit provider’s obligations under Section 81 of the National Credit Act to assess whether a consumer can actually afford the credit being offered. The court’s finding was unambiguous. The affordability assessment is a substantive obligation, and […]
POPIA Compliance for AI Collections in South Africa: Meeting Data Processing and Automated Decision Requirements Under FSCA Oversight
TL;DR A customer receives an automated SMS telling them their account has been flagged for collections. They do not recognise the amount. They want to know how the decision was made. They ask for a human to review the case. Under South African law, that request is a legal right, not a customer service preference. […]
Vernacular Debt Collection in India: Why Regional Language AI Improves Recovery Rates by 30% in Tier 2 and Tier 3 Cities
TL;DR “Payment nahi kar sakta” (I cannot make the payment). “Payment karne mein dikkat hai” (I am having difficulty making the payment). One signals inability. The other signals a temporary constraint. For a collections agent or an AI system deciding what to do next (escalate, offer a payment plan, or hold) the distinction determines the […]
NBFC Scale Based Regulation: How Collections Strategies Must Adapt Under RBI’s Tiered Framework in 2026
TL;DR Ask the CRO of an Upper Layer NBFC what keeps them up at night in 2026, and collections governance comes up quickly. The RBI’s Scale Based Regulation (SBR) framework has changed what “good collections governance” is legally required to look like for their tier. And the operational gap between where most NBFCs currently stand […]
