Innovation Game: Annual Event

Event Program

8:30 am - 9am - Key Note - Global Trends and Insights on AI Adoption

Natalia Bailey, Policy Advisory, Institute of International Finance (IIF)

Since 2017, the Institute of International Finance (IIF) has been surveying global participants on the level of adoption of Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) providing insights on its application and providing input and best practice guidance on AI governance and the ethical handling of customer data. In her keynote address, Natalia Bailey, Policy Advisor from the IIF will share how the research and findings have evolved over the years bringing in the insights and lessons learned through her interactions with global regulators and industry players. She’ll take the discussion beyond principals and share best practice on ML governance and how to implement a strong supporting operational structure.

9:00am -10am The Next Evolution of AI Adoption

This session will move beyond the principles and look at how organizations are developing effective AI strategies that are effective and well balanced between growth and risk objectives. The session will include:
A look at the different approaches to AI strategy – what works/ what doesn’t work
Perspectives on how to monitor the effectiveness of your AI Strategy
Strategies to give end users of AI Systems confidence – what’s level of transparency is needed?
Techniques to give organizations and regulators assurance that the AI Strategy is being constantly challenged and tested.
Moderated by Matt Fowler, Board Member, CRTA
Dr. Fiona Browne, Head of Machine Learning, Datactics
Stephanie Kelley, PhD Candidate, Management Analytics, Smith School of Business
Steve Sweetman, Principal Program Manager, Responsible AI Engineering, Microsoft
Jodie Wallis, Global Chief Analytics Officer, Manulife

10-10:45 am How to be Strategic in the Face of Change?

Senior Leader discussion on how to be strategic in the face of constant change. This session will cover:

What to worry about and what to leave behind? How do leaders /disruptors in the regulatory space keep pace with change.
With so much regulatory focus across industries, how can organizations mesh the need to fund strategic imperatives/revenue growth while addressing mandatory regulatory requirements?
How can we leverage technology (RegTech) to innovate and get ahead of the curve while balancing risks?

Moderated by Tina Mithra, CEO, Genesis Risk Consulting
Kim Prado, Chief Information Officer, BMO Financial Group
Yassir Jiwan, Digital Innovation Lead, Equifax

10:45-11am Break

11-12am Combating Financial Crime Using Privacy Enhancing Technologies

This is a special session that we are co-hosting with the Association of Certified Financial Crimes Specialists. (ACFCS). Financial Crime is one of the pervasive threats to the Canadian financial ecosystem, yet it is expensive, complex and ever evolving making it challenging for Financial Institutions (FIs)to control and stay ahead of the bad actors. FI’s are increasingly using statistical models to detect money laundering, but they are limited to only their own data for this purpose. Sharing data across FIs for AML purposes is very limited with some legal and regulatory challenges across the world due to customer data privacy concerns. This creates blind-spots for the FIs since they are unable to analyze a customers’ transaction patterns holistically across the financial system. Further, FIs also face challenges in receiving account level feedback from the enforcement agencies on the quality of their Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) on similar grounds.

In a joint effort, Scotiabank and RBC have been working with Fintechs, consulting firms and academia to test the use of Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PET) to create Trusted Execution Environments (TEE) to address the data sharing problem for AML. This session will share these findings and discuss:

The benefits of the confluence of the inter-FI data and models to AML compliance and regulatory oversight
The current challenges that limit the sharing of customer data
Finding and conclusion from their Proof-of-Concept research; explaining the technologies tested and conclusions
What’s next

Moderator: Vishal Gossain, Vice President, AML Modeling and Analytics, Scotiabank
Jas Anand, National Fraud Leader, EY
Vikas Bhatia, Head of Product, Azure Confidential Computing
Stuart Davis, EVP, Head of Financial Crimes and Group CAMLO, Scotiabank
Patrick O'Connell, Senior Director, Global Anti-Money Laundering Insight and Analytics, RBC
Rishabh Poddar, CEO, Opaque Systems
Prof. Raluca Popa, Professor, University of California, Berkeley
Karim Rajwani, SVP and Chief Operating Officer, AML Scotiabank
Annette Ryan, Deputy Director, Enterprise, Policy, Research and Programs and Chief Financial Officer, FINTRAC
Mario Schlener, Lead Financial Services Risk Practice and Global FS Risk Technology/Alliance/Innovation lead, EY
Jay Stark, SVP, Financial Crimes and CAMLO, RBC

Speaker Bios

12-1pm Lunch Regulatory Address - Jamey Hubbs, Assistant Superintendent, Deposit-Taking Supervision Sector, OSFI

Tying into our theme of the day of “How to Effectively Adopt Regtech in a Digital Age” and in follow up to OSFI’s tech-risk discussion paper: Developing Financial Sector Resiliency in a Digital World, Jamey will share insights into future OSFI guidance of technology-related risks and how OSFI is developing expectations for the digital world.

1-2pm - Raising the Bar on ESG Disclosure

Investors are increasingly incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into their investment process. The top Canadian pension funds are banding together and are pushing Canadian Corporates towards more standardized disclosures. However, the lack of consistent, comprehensive, and reliable reporting standards inhibits actionable informed investment decisions. This panel will discuss:

The current state of ESG disclosure in Canada /whats the degree of discipline /use of standards
The types of approaches being taken by organizations to improve the quality and transparency of ESG disclosures?
How to collectively move towards a ESG solution that benefits Canadian investors

Moderator: Matthew Ayearst, Director Consulting Expert, Sustainability Global Wealth and Capital Markets, CGI
Gord Beal, Vice President, Guidance Research and Support, CPA Canada
Andrea Carlson, Vice President, Finance and Corporate Sustainability, IGM Financial
Laurie Clark, CEO, Onyen
Julie Park, ESG Disclosure Lead, TMX

Afternoon Sessions

(Participants have the option of two streams)

Stream 1

2-3pm - The World of Virtual Assets - from CBDC's, to DeFi and NFTs...Managing Growth and Compliance in this Burgeoning Sector

Venture Capital investment in Virtual Asset Platforms, Exchanges and processors is at its highest ever. Virtual currencies are tipping the mainstream with power players like Apple and Google partnering with Coinbase to offer VC wallets for most retail payments and over 80 countries are in various stages of implementing their own Central Bank Backed Digital Currency (CBDC), including Canada who has just authorized Tetra Trust as our first crypto asset custodian. Along with a product boom and large-scale adoption, comes the need to protect consumers and clarify regulations. What does this look like for Canada? How can Canadian financial institutions and our burgeoning FinTech sector harness this trend while living into regulatory obligations? This panel will explore the current trends in the virtual asset class, recent and emerging regulations and enforcement action, and operational infrastructures and compliance processes needed to support growth while protecting end investors
Moderator: Charlene Sebastian, MinervaAI
Brian Gelfand, Consultant and Senior Advisor, EY
Joe Schifano, Global Head of Regulatory Affairs, Eventus Systems
Scott Hendry, Senior Special Director, The Bank of Canada
Alex McDougall, President and COO, Stablecorp

3-3:30pm - Break

3:30-4:30pm Data Governance and the Cloud

Let's face it, most of our regulatory requirements are focused on data. Data either created by our customer profiles or our customer transactions. From liquidity and risk models to the hundreds of reportable non-financial risk attributes, data continues to be the cornerstone of compliance. Demystify terms like data mesh, data fabric, data lake, through a panel discussion focused on how organizations can best marry legacy with modernized infrastructure and make the most out of data. This panel will discuss the most current industry approaches to managing data, challenges of modernizing legacy platforms and migrating to cloud, and how to take a strategic approach to your data framework while addressing the demands of evolving data governance requirements.
Moderator: Kris Lawson, Regional Director, Snowflake
Karim Jessani, Principal Consultant, Kannos Canada
Ravi Gedela, CEO, Banking Labs Inc
Adnan Hoque, AVP Enterprise Cloud Data Migration, TD Bank

Stream 2 - Fireside Chats

2-2:30pm Demystifying the De-Identification of Data - How to Protect your Organization’s data - Obligations and Techniques

Data breaches in the first half of 2021 have exposed over 18.8 million customer records, often leading to costly clean up and reputational damage. With deep revisions to Canada's data privacy regulations and organizations working to comply to global data privacy and protection standards such as the GDPR and HIPPA. This talk will overview the expectations of the updated regulations and trends in data protection technologies, how you can apply them practically to your data landscape and how strategic partnerships with specialized privacy vendors can accelerate compliance.
Speakers
Liana Di Giorgio, Senior Associate, Norton Rose Fulbright
Kevin Downey - Chief Technical Officer and Co-founder, Data Sentinel
Patricia Thaine, CEO and Co-founder, PrivateAI

2:30-3pm - Strengthening the Rules on Model Risk Governance. What to Expect and What Will this Mean for Oversight and Transparency?

In May 2021, OSFI confirmed it's intent to issue an Industry letter (Q1 2022) and revised model risk guidance (2022-2023) focusing on AI/ML Model oversight, model soundness, accountability and explainability. This talk will overview the current Risk Model Landscape, challenges and best practices, along with insights as to what we might expect as OSFI works with industry to refine guidance.
Confirmed Speakers
Debora Bielecki,
Fion Lee-Madan, COO, Fairly AI
Romana Mizdrak, Managing Director, Mosel Risk Division, OSFI

3-3:30 Break

3:30-4pm Strategies to Shorten the Journey towards Global ESG Standards

Drawing parallels from global standardization efforts in areas such a security master data and cyber, global strategists will share lessons learned and their views on how to move forward collectively toward consistent data sources and monitoring and reporting measurements.
Moderator: Eleanor Morrison, Managing Director, Strategic Business Transformation and Risk Platform Technology , TD Securities

Chantal Guay, CEO, Standards Council of Canada
Martijn Groot, VP Marketing and Strategy, Alveo Technologies

4-4:30pm - The Public Key Infrastructure and Device Authentication Fallacy – How to Safeguard Your Systems Using Biometric Identification

According to Verizon’s annual 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report, weak user authentication and human interface error represented roughly 85 percent of all data breaches last year.

As the world rolls toward digital credentialing, mobile driver licenses, passports, and other remote credentialing methods, it is naturally important to understand the potential vulnerabilities of various possible systems, architectures, and components so that we can proactively guard against what could enable breaches. Importantly, cryptography, tokens and device authentication, while important, may enable such breaches and frauds, while liveness proven biometrics mitigate them. Just how do we best leverage biometric verification and authentication to reduce fraud and identity theft, protecting our customers, and minimizing internal access security breaches?
Jay Meier, SVP of North America Operations, Facetec