Núñez highlights banking challenges: AI, geopolitics, sustainability

The Deputy Governor emphasized the profound impact of new technologies, especially artificial intelligence, on the financial sector's future.

While AI offers significant opportunities for efficiency gains and improved customer experience, it also presents challenges such as explainability of results and the need for robust data governance.

An article recently published by the European Central Bank highlights that most banks use specific tools to monitor AI model outcomes, complemented by human validation and limitations on self-learning models.

Beyond AI, the digital transformation envisions more decentralized and programmable financial markets, with new actors, products, and investment mechanisms like equity crowdfunding.

Integrating these changes into solid institutional frameworks is crucial to ensure investor protection, ethical finance, and systemic financial stability.

Operational resilience, supervision of critical external providers, and robust data governance are essential for successful and secure digitalization.

Núñez identified geopolitical risk as a pervasive challenge, urging financial institutions to enhance their monitoring, adaptation, and management capabilities to anticipate disruptive scenarios.

While past shocks have had limited impact on the Spanish financial system due to extraordinary public measures, the current state of public finances in some countries could constrain future governmental responses.

The second critical challenge is sustainability, which is framed not merely as a regulatory or ethical concern but as a prerequisite for long-term financial stability.

The Deputy Governor stressed the need to adapt economies to climate change, acknowledging the financial sector's pivotal role despite challenges like the lack of quality data for reliable transition plans.

She concluded that the shift towards sustainability represents both a business opportunity and a path to greater resilience.