Exploring Explainable AI in the Financial Sector: Perspectives of Banks and Supervisory Authorities

Explainable artificial intelligence (xAI) is seen as a solution to making AI systems less of a "black box". It is essential to ensure transparency, fairness, and accountability - which are especially paramount in the financial sector. The aim of this study was a preliminary investigation of the perspectives of supervisory authorities and regulated entities regarding the application of xAI in the financial sector. Three use cases (consumer credit, credit risk, and anti-money laundering) were examined using semi-structured interviews at three banks and two supervisory authorities in the Netherlands. We found that for the investigated use cases a disparity exists between supervisory authorities and banks regarding the desired scope of explainability of AI systems. We argue that the financial sector could benefit from clear differentiation between technical AI (model) explainability requirements and explainability requirements of the broader AI system in relation to applicable laws and regulations.