Absa Bank pushes for coordination on data privacy

Absa convenes financial sector to strengthen collaboration on data privacy

Kampala, Uganda | NEWS CORRESPONDENT | Absa Bank Uganda has brought together financial institutions, regulators, fintechs, data protection and information-security professionals to explore how the sector can work more closely to protect customer information as financial services become increasingly digital and interconnected.

The reccent engagement, held under the theme “Trust by Design: Embedding Privacy, Consent and Responsible Use of AI across Digital and Open Banking Models,” focused on the growing need for collaboration as customer information increasingly moves across different platforms, institutions and technology providers.

Speaking at the workshop, Absa Bank Uganda Managing Director David Wandera said data privacy can no longer be viewed primarily as a technology or compliance responsibility as digital financial services become more interconnected.

“Technology is allowing us to understand our customers better and serve them faster, but every new connection also creates another place where information can move, be accessed or potentially be misused. For those of us leading banks, data privacy is therefore a management issue that affects customers and ultimately impacts trust,” Wandera said.

Uganda’s financial-services landscape has changed considerably as banking apps, mobile money, agent banking, digital lending and partnerships between banks and fintechs make it possible for customers to access an increasing range of services without visiting a traditional bank branch.

While this creates greater convenience and opportunities for financial inclusion, it also means customer information can potentially move across more systems and service providers.

Discussions at the workshop explored how the industry can strengthen accountability across these interconnected services, including approaches to sharing data between financial institutions to combat fraud and money laundering while protecting privacy. The workshop also considered consent management, open banking, embedded finance and privacy risks associated with agency banking.

Absa Group Head of Data Privacy Thav Reddy said the increasing connections between different players in financial services make collaboration on data protection particularly important.

“Across Africa, we are seeing financial services become more digital, more connected and increasingly dependent on partnerships between banks, fintechs and other technology providers. That makes collaboration on data privacy critical because customer information does not necessarily remain within the walls of one institution.

“The opportunity is to build privacy into how we design these services from the outset from how data is collected, shared, how consent is managed and how new technologies such as AI are deployed. If we can get that right, privacy becomes more than a compliance requirement; it becomes part of the foundation that allows digital financial services to grow at scale while maintaining customer trust,” Reddy said.

The discussions also considered how the growing use of artificial intelligence is changing the way financial institutions think about data. AI is increasingly being applied in areas such as fraud detection, customer service, risk analysis and process automation, creating opportunities to improve customer experiences while also raising questions around governance, accountability and responsible use of customer information.

A key focus was privacy by design considering how customer information will be collected, accessed, used, stored and shared as products, partnerships and technologies are developed, rather than addressing privacy only after implementation.

Uganda’s data-protection environment is also becoming more established, placing greater responsibility on organisations handling personal data to maintain appropriate governance, safeguards and controls around how customer information is processed.

Wandera said the opportunities presented by new technology should be matched by the industry’s commitment to maintaining customer trust. “Customers may not know which AI model we use or what an API is, but they will know whether they feel safe trusting us with their money and their information. The institutions that will succeed in this next chapter of banking will be those that can embrace everything technology makes possible without losing sight of the people it is meant to serve,” he said.

The workshop underscored the importance of continued collaboration across the financial-services sector as institutions navigate new technologies, partnerships and increasingly connected ways of serving customers.