The first biannual meeting in 2024 of the Financial Stability Council Regional Advisory Group for Sub-Saharan Africa (GCR-ASS), focused on the issue of AI in the banking sector.

The issue of AI in banking practices remains a major concern for financial stability boards, especially due to the uncertainty surrounding the complete understanding of this sector by central banks and regulators. Indeed, on May 24, the BCEAO training center dedicated to managers of banking institutions organized a virtual conference on AI and the banking sector. According to a statement released at the end of the activity, more than a thousand professionals in the sector participated in this event. The focus is on the potential benefits of AI for the banking sector, including accelerating the analysis of risk profiles.

According to Professor Marc Israel, “AI could automate more than 18% of tasks and accelerate the speed of execution of financial transactions. For example, ChatGPT, the most well-known AI application, reduced the time needed to complete certain tasks by 40% while improving their quality by 18%, according to a study conducted by MIT in July 2023