Operationalising ethics for AI in the financial industry: Insights from the Volksbank case study

This paper seeks to advance the development of responsible artificial intelligence (AI) practices within the banking industry through an in-depth case study analysis of De Volksbank’s governance framework for AI ethics. While the financial sector has historically embraced technological innovation, the increasing integration of AI into customer - and operations-focused systems has raised ethical concerns. Despite regulatory initiatives and the broad availability of ethical frameworks for responsible AI, numerous challenges related to operationalising these frameworks persist. Addressing the existing gap between ethical principles and AI practices in finance, this paper examines De Volksbank’s ethical governance framework as a potential organisational configuration of structures and processes necessary to meaningfully operationalise AI ethics. The paper provides a comprehensive overview of De Volksbank’s governance framework, detailing its requirements, roles and responsibilities across various dimensions of AI ethics governance. Additionally, it elaborates on four important insights of operationalising ethics, focusing on AI ethics as a challenge in (1) organisational design, (2) interdisciplinary expertise and responsibilities, (3) proactive governance and (4) high-quality processes for ethical inquiry. Given the indispensability of trust for the financial sector, trustworthy AI is of crucial importance for its long-term legitimacy and existence. Consequently, this paper seeks to enhance the understanding of operationalising AI ethics in banking and to serve as an impetus for other organisations aspiring to establish ethical frameworks for their AI systems.