ACCA welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on Bank Negara Malaysia’s discussion paper, Artificial Intelligence in the Malaysian Financial Sector.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) remains a subject of much interest, investment, and debate. A seemingly ubiquitous subject, its influence pervades much of personal and professional life.

AI clearly has its benefits and risks. The financial sector is significantly impacted by technology. It can enhance existing product experiences and spur the creation of new ones. It also comes with some abiding risks, including consumer safety risks stemming from new cyber threats and the vulnerabilities of AI technology, such as bias, hallucination, and explainability.

As part of informing our response, we convened a roundtable of various stakeholders and thought leaders from multiple sectors, including academia, public sector, professional services, financial services, and industry. And we heard from participants in financial services who have successfully leveraged AI. The roundtable highlighted various aspects, including the challenges of implementing AI. In preparing our response, we naturally reviewed relevant publications on the subject.

The balance between opportunity and risk continues to evolve, as does the technology. We recognise the rather delicate position this places the regulator in. We hope these perspectives contribute to a constructive and robust dialogue on how to responsibly leverage Artificial Intelligence in the Malaysian Financial Sector.

Our overall response to this consultation is informed by the fact that we are a public interest body in the education sector with members and students in accountancy and finance. As such, ACCA does not sell AI products, though our members and students may use them in the course of their work and training. As a neutral party regarding AI products in financial services, our overall view is that AI in finance is maturing rapidly, though still a work in progress.

Our response to this consultation highlights key messages:

• Regulation should remain flexible and principles-based to support innovation while managing emerging AI risks.
• Industry collaboration, including knowledge and best-practice sharing, is vital to leveraging AI effectively in the financial services sector.
• Addressing the AI talent gap requires multi-stakeholder efforts to attract, train, and retain talent across the financial sector.

To read our response in full, please download the consultation response document found on this page.