This chapter closes Part 1 by analysing how the opacity surrounding the use of AI and ADM tools by financial corporations is enabled, and even encouraged by the law. As other chapters in the book demonstrate, such opacity brings about significant risks to fundamental rights, consumer rights, and the rule of law. Analysing examples from jurisdictions including the US, UK, EU, and Australia, Bednarz and Przhedetsky unpack how financial entities often rely on rules and market practices protecting corporate secrecy such as complex credit scoring systems, proprietary rights to AI models and data, as well as the carve out of ‘non-personal’ information from data and privacy protection laws. The authors then focus on the rules incentivising the use of AI and ADM tools by financial entities, showing how they provide a shield behind which corporations can hide their consumer scoring and rating practices. The authors also explore potential regulatory solutions that could break the opacity and ensure transparency, introducing direct accountability and scrutiny of ADM and AI tools, and reducing the control of financial corporations over people’s data.

The potential of AI solutions to enhance effective decision-making, reduce costs, personalise offers and products, and improve risk management have not gone unnoticed by the financial industry. On the contrary, the characteristics of AI systems seem to perfectly accommodate to the features of financial services and to masterly address their most distinctive and challenging needs. Thus, the financial industry proves to provide a receptive and conducive environment to the growing application of AI solutions in a variety of tasks, activities, and decision-making processing. The aim of this paper is to examine the current state of the legal regime applicable in the European Union to the use of AI systems in the financial sector and to reflect on the need to formulate principles and rules that ensure responsible automation of decision-making and that serve as a guide for widely and extensively implementing AI solutions in banking activity.