Dr Miller will present a highly anticipated talk titled: “Machine Learning at the Credit Bureau: The Role of Predictive Modelling in a Regulated Landscape”.

A seasoned data science practitioner and researcher, Dr Miller brings nearly two decades of industry experience to the stage. Having spent the past 10 years at Equifax, he has played a pivotal role in leading innovation projects and technical teams. As a Data Science leader within the Equifax Global Data Science Lab, he has been at the forefront of advancements in predictive modelling, risk assessment, and regulatory adaptation.

His expertise is reflected in his extensive contributions to the field, including 13 patents and applications, as well as multiple presentations at prestigious conferences. Notably, his work on predictive modelling in affordability assessment earned him the CSCC 2023 Best Paper Award.

As the CSCC XIX conference approaches, attendees can look forward to Dr Miller’s insights into the evolving role of machine learning in credit scoring, especially in the context of regulatory challenges and industry innovation.

Stay tuned for more speaker announcements and event details!

The UEBS Credit Research Centre (CRC) is dedicated to advancing financial inclusion by sharing expertise in credit risk assessment, including credit scoring. Credit risk assessment plays a crucial role in reducing costs, minimising bad debt, and increasing credit availability. By doing so, it enables more individuals and businesses to access the funds they need, supporting purchases, investments, and efficient cash flow management.

The increasingly fast digitisation in African economies and growing need for credit makes credit scoring methods and management of scorecards a crucial topic for many African countries. It is with this in mind along with the growing demand for analytical skills in other sectors that I have contributed to the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) by teaching and mentoring graduate students across several countries over the past seven years.

Last year was particular, as Marc Gaudart, and Paul Randall of Trent Advisory Services, joined me to deliver the first credit risk course at AIMS in Cameroon. They brought valuable insights from their extensive experience in the lending industry, and their contributions enriched the learning experience of the students immensely. The CRC and AIMS were proud to support this initiative.

The motivations of students taking this course speak of their desire to expand their knowledge and their desire to apply the most cutting-edge techniques; from understanding the importance and role of credit risk for operational development in making informed decisions, to wanting to apply mathematical and machine learning techniques in the banking industry.

Personally I didn't know what credit risk was before but thanks to Viani, Marc & Paul, I can say I am a risk manager.

Abraham Lincoln once said, "I will prepare, and someday my chance will come." It’s a pleasure to contribute to preparing these brilliant African students for their future. While many of them may feel that their paths ahead seem uncertain, I have no doubt that their "chances" will come. My hope is that many of them will go on to play pivotal roles in shaping the future of the continent and the world.

Viani Djeundje Biatat is a Research Fellow at the Credit Research Centre.

The UEBS Credit Research Centre (CRC) is dedicated to advancing financial inclusion by sharing expertise in credit risk assessment, including credit scoring. Credit risk assessment plays a crucial role in reducing costs, minimising bad debt, and increasing credit availability. By doing so, it enables more individuals and businesses to access the funds they need, supporting purchases, investments, and efficient cash flow management.

The increasingly fast digitisation in African economies and growing need for credit makes credit scoring methods and management of scorecards a crucial topic for many African countries. It is with this in mind along with the growing demand for analytical skills in other sectors that I have contributed to the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) by teaching and mentoring graduate students across several countries over the past seven years.

Last year was particular, as Marc Gaudart, and Paul Randall of Trent Advisory Services, joined me to deliver the first credit risk course at AIMS in Cameroon. They brought valuable insights from their extensive experience in the lending industry, and their contributions enriched the learning experience of the students immensely. The CRC and AIMS were proud to support this initiative.

The motivations of students taking this course speak of their desire to expand their knowledge and their desire to apply the most cutting-edge techniques; from understanding the importance and role of credit risk for operational development in making informed decisions, to wanting to apply mathematical and machine learning techniques in the banking industry.

Personally I didn't know what credit risk was before but thanks to Viani, Marc & Paul, I can say I am a risk manager.

Abraham Lincoln once said, "I will prepare, and someday my chance will come." It’s a pleasure to contribute to preparing these brilliant African students for their future. While many of them may feel that their paths ahead seem uncertain, I have no doubt that their "chances" will come. My hope is that many of them will go on to play pivotal roles in shaping the future of the continent and the world.

Viani Djeundje Biatat is a Research Fellow at the Credit Research Centre.

Professor Jonathan Crook will discuss his upcoming paper: Do Financial Literacy, Risk Attitude, or Time Preference Affect the Chance of Being Overindebted?

For those of you who have not had the opportunity to meet Professor Crook, Jonathan founded the Credit Research Centre in 1997 and remains a member of the CRC.

He is Emeritus Professor of Business Economics at Edinburgh University, an External Research Fellow of the Centre for Finance, Credit and Macroeconomics at the University of Nottingham, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. Jonathan currently has a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the European Journal of Operational Research and of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Credit Risk. The agenda for the online format is a 45-minute presentation followed by a Q&A.

Register and find out more about what is due to be a fascinating seminar.

Dr An will present the findings of his recent working paper, "Extreme Wildfires, Distant Air Pollution, and Household Financial Health". This is a joint work with Stuart A Gabriel (UCLA Anderson School of Management) & Nitzan Tzur-Ilan (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas). This research uses detailed wildfire burn data, satellite smoke plume data, and ground-level pollution data to estimate the effects of extreme wildfires and related air pollution events on housing and consumer financial behaviour.

Register now

Key insights

• Increased spending, indebtedness, and loan delinquencies among households exposed to high levels of air pollution, even beyond burn perimeters.
• A health-related spending channel in explanation of the adverse financial effects.
• Higher levels of delinquency among renters in burn zones, especially those with lower credit scores.

Dr An's work provides novel evidence on the far-reaching financial impacts of wildfires, affecting both direct burn areas and distant regions impacted by wildfire-attributed air pollution. Don't miss this opportunity to gain insights from Dr An's extensive research and expertise in financial stability, risk management, and consumer finance.

Rui Ying Goh has successfully defended her thesis titled ‘Unleashing the potential of Open Banking: three use cases for risk assessment’ (subject to minor corrections). We are proud of this milestone since it is the first project from our PhDs in Financial Technology.

Our sincere thanks to Galina Andreeva (first supervisor), Yi Cao and Jonathan Crook (current and former supervisors), Tony Bellotti (external examiner, Nottingham University, China), Antonia Gieschen and Belen Martin-Barragan (internal examiner and chair at the viva), and all colleagues supporting Rui and PhD in FinTech programme.

We would like to extend our gratitude to Atto (former DirectID), our industry partner, for support with data, guidance, advice, and financial assistance and to EIT Digital for financial support.

Savina Kim has passed her PhD defence for the thesis titled ‘The Double-Edged Sword of AI & Big Data: A Socio-Technical Examination of Algorithmic Fairness in Lending’ (subject to minor corrections).

This is an important achievement, since it is one of the first projects from Centre for Technomoral Futures funded by Baillie Gifford. We are positive that the near future we will see more successful defences from this collaboration.

We give our sincere thanks to Galina Andreeva and Michael Rovatsos (first and second supervisors), Yvonne Seow Hsin Vonn (external examiner from Nottingham University), Augusto Voltes-Dorta and Xin Fei (internal examiner and chair at the viva), and everyone who backed Savina during her pursuit of a PhD.

Yujia Chen got through her PhD viva successfully with the thesis, “Unveiling the Decision-Making in the Lending Industry Through Explainable AI” (subject to minor corrections).

We are extremely grateful to Belen Martin-Barragan and Raffaella Calabrese (first and second supervisors), Stefan Lessmann (external examiner, Humboldt-University of Berlin, Germany), Galina Andreeva and Antonia Gieschen (internal examiner and chair at the viva), and all the staff and peers who aided Yujia in her academic journey.

We are happy to announce that Yujia is currently continuing in the position of Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Open Finance (supervised by Raffaella Calabrese) in the MSBE group at the University of Edinburgh Business School.

Please join us in congratulating Rui, Savina and Yujia!