WASHINGTON–Rodney Hood, the former NCUA chairman who is now interim head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), said artificial intelligence can be used to help banks make more informed decisions, but only if it is responsibly used, and that includes supporting financial inclusion.
Hood expressed concern that AI models may intuit relationships among variables that humans cannot, “thereby presenting the risk of unintentionally perpetuating historical patterns of bias and discrimination,” Hood told the National Fair Housing Alliance’s Responsible AI Symposium.
Hood, using a line he often used while at NCUA, called financial inclusion the “civil rights challenge of our generation.”
“That’s why my focus on this has been unwavering, and I encourage innovative thinking among stakeholders in financial services about how we can lead the way to foster greater financial inclusion,” Hood said in his remarks. “During my tenure as the NCUA Chairman, I made financial inclusion a priority for the agency and the cooperative credit system. I continue to champion this topic at the OCC because I truly believe national banks and federal savings associations should help all people to access our financial mainstream.”
Hood told the meeting the OCC will “champion” of the use of AI as a means of expanding access to credit and other financial services.
“For example, AI can utilize alternative data, such as rent payments and cash flow information, to improve credit models and increase financial inclusion,” Hood stated. “This can enable consumers to obtain additional products or more favorable terms based on enhanced assessments of repayment capacity.”
