The digital evolution of the financial services (FS) industry is heavily reliant on having quality information and analytics to deliver services to customers and manage operations in an efficient and risk-appropriate manner. With developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) transforming the information processing and data analytics landscape, and opening up potential benefits, such as business process simplification, cost reduction, efficiency improvements and enhanced customer engagement, many FS firms have become early adopters of AI. Building and operationalising a trustworthy AI framework within an FS firm takes time and effort, however the benefits can be significant. While regulators around the globe encourage and support innovation in the FS sector, questions have been raised on whether AI has been used in an ethical and trustworthy way for customers and our society. In this report, we explore the principles underpinning ethical use of AI issued by regulators and governments in the Asia Pacific region, and what FS firms need to consider when developing their own'trustworthy AI framework'.

The Council of Europe is taking part in the third edition (online) of the "Athens Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence and the Rule of Law" on 6 and 7 December. Organised by the Future Society and ELONTech under the Patronage of the President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, the event is co-hosted by UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the European Parliament's Panel on the Future of Science and Technology (STOA), IEEE SA, the Center on Civil Justice at the NYU School of Law and the National Judicial College, among other institutions. It will also address important issues at the intersection of AI, industry, government and law, including civil liability regimes, regulatory compliance, privacy and consumer protection, and judicial capacity building. Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić is speaking at the opening. The Director of Information Society – Action against Crime, Jan Kleijssen, is taking part in the panel "EU AI Act and Beyond: Regulatory Perspectives from Europe and the United States" and the Head of the Information Society Department, Patrick Penninckx in the panel on "AI and Human Rights".

Thank you, Alexander [Campbell] for the introduction. Thanks also to Genevieve Furtado and the other conference organizers for the invitation to speak here today, at the 19th Annual Operational Risk North America Conference. I understand that this is the Champagne Keynote address. Given that title, I feel obligated as an economist to share with you the reported last words of John Maynard Keynes – the father of modern macroeconomics: "I should have drunk more champagne." I hope my words here today do not inspire a similar sentiment. And finally, I must remind you that the views that I express today are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission or its staff.[1] My remarks this afternoon will center on a technology topic that is encroaching on many aspects of our lives and increasingly so within financial markets: Artificial Intelligence. Perhaps better known by its two-letter acronym "AI," artificial intelligence has been the fodder of science fiction writing for decades. But the technology underlying AI research has recently found applications in the financial sector – in a movement that falls under the banner of "Fintech."

What's to stop intelligent algorithms, programmed to make a profit, from learning to collude with one another in ways which bend market rules? Such a scenario would require regulatory oversight from the very cutting edge of computer science. The idea of artificial intelligence manipulating outcomes in the real world and then exploiting these on the markets is bestseller material. But there's fascinating scope for this to actually happen as computing power increases and algorithms get smarter. Someone who has thought about this a lot is Anthony Amicangioli, CEO and founder of Hyannis Port Research.

What's to stop intelligent algorithms, programmed to make a profit, from learning to collude with one another in ways which bend market rules? Such a scenario would require regulatory oversight from the very cutting edge of computer science. The idea of artificial intelligence manipulating outcomes in the real world and then exploiting these on the markets is bestseller material. But there's fascinating scope for this to actually happen as computing power increases and algorithms get smarter. Someone who has thought about this a lot is Anthony Amicangioli, CEO and founder of Hyannis Port Research.