Our third episode in The Momentum Advantage podcast series is now live! This instalment dives deep into how organisations can unlock the power of AI and machine learning in credit risk assessment – despite the cultural, technological, and ethical hurdles that often stand in the way.
Join Dan Blagojevic, PhD, Director of Decision Sciences & Machine Learning and Andrew Donald, Director of Engineering at Optima Partners, alongside Iain Brown, PhD, Head of Data Science at SAS Europe. Together, they explore how to bridge the gap between AI’s potential and real-world implementation in the credit domain.
The conversation unpacks the barriers to operationalising advanced analytics in enterprise-scale environments, the emerging role of synthetic data, and the responsibility businesses carry when introducing AI into high-stakes decisioning.
Key Takeaways:
- While AI models like gradient boosting or neural networks offer powerful capabilities, most financial institutions struggle to move beyond prototypes. The true challenge lies in legacy integration, stakeholder alignment, and governance – not the tech itself.
- The shift to cloud platforms enables scalability, but poor data quality, legacy capture methods, and fragmented pipelines often hold businesses back. Real value starts with strong data foundations, not flashy models.
- Vendors may claim easy deployment, but AI must be validated, monitored, and trusted -especially in risk. Organisations must start small, prove incremental value, and bring internal stakeholders along on the journey.
- Generating artificial data to fill gaps or balance datasets can improve model accuracy and privacy. However, it must be used carefully to avoid reinforcing biases or creating false confidence in AI-driven outcomes.
- Whether through model governance or human-in-the-loop design, businesses must ensure customers understand why decisions are made – especially in credit where trust is vital.
- From containerisation to version pinning, resilient systems matter. Engineering disciplines like cost management, reproducibility, and monitoring are essential to safe and scalable AI deployment.
Watch the full Momentum Advantage podcast on our YouTube channel here.
If you’re interested in exploring how AI can drive personalisation within your organisation, contact us here.
