Independent Banker - June 2019 - 13

History Lesson
Growing the ghost in
the machine
The recent boom of AI in the financial
industry has historic roots going back more
than a century.
While it may seem like a hot new topic, artificial
intelligence, or AI, has been around the financial
industry for much longer than you might have
imagined. Here are
a few highlights:
1900: French
mathematician
Louis Bachelier,
now recognized as
the godfather of
advanced financial
mathematics,
publishes Théorie de la Spéculation, which
explored the use of mathematics as a method to
evaluate stocks.
1959: Robert Schlaifer, pioneer of Bayesian
decision theory, now widely used in the field of
machine learning, publishes Probability and
Statistics for Business Decisions.
1980s: The decade sees a building boom for AI
in finance, including artificial neural networks,
fuzzy systems and expert systems.
1993: The U.S. Department of the Treasury
implements the FinCEN Artificial Intelligence
system (FAIS), which is able to review more
than 200,000 transactions per week to
determine incidents of money laundering.
What's next for AI in finance? Look out
for an increasing number of back-office
functions being managed by machines, bank
customers authenticating themselves with
voice recognition and loan underwriting being
informed by social media data. -Julie Kendrick
ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator
culminates in Demo Day
celebration
News
ICBA leaders converged at the Venture Center
in Little Rock, Ark., on March 27 to celebrate the
culmination of ICBA's ThinkTECH Accelerator, a first-of-itskind
program designed to expedite the development of early
stage, community bank-focused financial innovations.
" The combination of high-touch, relationship-based
business and high-tech solutions will be the key to the
future success of community banks, " said ICBA president
and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey, who was on hand for the
event. " These concepts-those of access, collaboration,
courage, relationships and family-play out in community
banking, and they came to life at Demo Day, the peak of the
accelerator program. "
The immersive nature of the program, which brought
entrepreneurs together with more than 60 subject-matter
experts, created refined, community bank-focused offerings.
The hope is that these will translate into the high-tech, hightouch
customer experiences of the future.
And while the 12-week program has concluded, the
opportunities for collaboration continue. ICBA Bancard
recently announced its partnership with accelerator finalist
MK Decision for real-time loan approvals. Finalist Teslar
earned the Community Bankers' Choice Award at ICBA's
ThinkTECH Showcase during this year's ICBA LIVE, and Invest
Sou Sou was named MVP from Demo Day, earning its team
the opportunity to present at Finovate. Banking and cohort
relationships will evolve as new agreements solidify and
finalists' products become more widespread.
" It doesn't end here, " said Kevin Tweddle, chief operating
officer of the ICBA Services Network. " I'm thrilled where we
are today, but I'm most excited about what this will become. "
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Independent Banker - June 2019

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