WASHINGTON– Details around how artificial intelligence and machine-learning are being applied to a handful of small, community-based financial institutions to determine the best approaches to consumer lending and risk management were shared with attendees at the Global Women’s Leadership Network luncheon here.
Attendees also heard from one CU executive from Africa, and got an update on the progress—and the long way to go—of women in the marketplace.
Sharing her insights at the event, held in conjunction with CUNA’s GAC, was Melissa Koide, CEO and Director of FinRegLab, a nonprofit innovation center that tests new technologies seeking to “drive the financial sector toward a more inclusive marketplace.”
Koide was joined by WOCCU President and CEO Elissa McCarter LaBorde for the discussion.
According to the World Council, Koide said she gets a lot of questions about whether the modeling is fair and accurate.
“One of the things I like about the work we do in financial is services is that we have laws in place, especially in credit, that require that you have to understand how those models would direct their outcomes—this is for our protection notice requirements,” Koide told the meeting. “And we have fair lending expectations, where you need to understand how people are being treated differently, according to the models you’re using.”
Expanded International Reach
Along with the work FinRegLab is doing in the U.S., the organization has recently expanded its reach internationally to Mexico and Kenya, according to Koide, who served from 2012-17 as assistant deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
“Credit is an on-ramp, totally more than just simply filling income gaps, but really the opportunity for building small businesses, for having the resources you need to build your wealth opportunities,” said Koide. “If we can think about how that data gets fed into broader credit reporting ecosystems, well then you have better competition within your credit markets.”
Koide encouraged the women credit union leaders in attendance to engage with FinRegLab for their data needs.
An International Voice
Also addressing the luncheon was Triza Magreta, general manager of Mudi SACCO (credit union) in Malawi and leader of the Malawi GWLN Sister Society.
Magreta discussed overcoming gender stereotypes and contempt from colleagues to become a transformational credit union executive. When she became the general manager the SACCO had one woman director on a board of seven.
“I had to lobby for more women on the board, and currently the board of seven has three ladies. The loan portfolio has grown by 1,876%,” said Magreta, who added that the membership at her SACCO has also grown by 463% during her tenure.
Margreta also credited the international credit union women she connected with through GWLN with her pursuit of further education. Magreta completed a master’s degree in financial management since joining the organization.
GWLN Update
Meanwhile, the Global Women’s Leadership Network has engaged more than 4,900 individuals from 86 countries since its inception in 2009, according to GWLN Director Eleni Giakoumopoulos, who said there is still a long way to go.
Giakoumopoulos cited the latest report on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG5), which shows achieving full gender equality would take to close to 300 years at the current rate.
“The glass ceiling still remains intact. We still have work to do there. We’re improving in women getting more leadership roles both in the U.S. and internationally, but we still need to do more,” Giakoumopoulos told the meeting.
It’s Called Fresh for a Reason. And We Offer Home Delivery. For Free!
The biggest, best and freshest news reporting in credit unions remains free in ’23! Each morning CUToday.info delivers its daily Fresh Today news update offering the latest headlines and breaking news right to your email, with the easy-to-read headlines format allowing you to click on the stories that interest you most in order to learn more.
If you haven’t yet signed up for the new email solution on which CUToday.info has partnered with ResponseGenius, you can do so here. Signing up requires less than one minute of your time—and it’s free!
Please note that after signing up you may need to go to your Spam/Junk folder and mark the morning headlines email as safe. CUToday.info does not provide its list of readers and emails to outside parties, and we will not be contacting you to sell you an extended warranty or sending you any links so you may cash in on an inheritance you didn’t know was coming.
And did we mention it’s free?
Please note and/or make your IT department or email administrator aware the emails will be coming from the domains CUTodayinfo.com and CUTodayinfoReply.com