AI will transform finance sector, regulator says

William Mason believes artificial intelligence will change the way jobs are done

Artificial Intelligence (AI) will lead to the "transformation of business" in Guernsey's finance industry, the regulator has said.

The director general of Guernsey's Financial Services Commission (GFSC) was speaking after a conference looking at the role of AI in the sector.

William Mason said it "will change jobs" but not lead to fewer employees.

He believes more basic tasks will be done by AI, leaving staff to focus on more complicated roles.

"At the moment we are in a full employment society, we can't get enough good people in Guernsey to do the sort of work available in the financial services sector," Mr Mason said.

"If AI allows us to do more of the value-added stuff here, and use the people on Guernsey more smartly, I think that is a great thing."

'Work out how to live with it'

A report by investment bank Goldman Sachs said AI could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs, but may also mean new jobs and a productivity boom.

In 2021 the finance sector contributed more than £1.2m to Guernsey's economy, or 36% of the total GDP.

In 2022 the sector employed 5,960 people across the island.

One area he believes could benefit is the handling of applications to fund a new insurer through GFSC.

"It involves a lot of manual checking of documents at the moment," Mr Mason said.

"Going forward we plan to build a new, probably AI system, which will do 90% of that electronically.

"So the decision maker will get all these checks done electronically, and will make the decision on what the AI tells it in the end, so there will still be a human in the loop.

"A lot of the mundane stuff will go away though."

At a conference entitled AI and Finance in Guernsey, Mr Mason said: "We don't have an option to not embrace AI.

"We need to work out how to live with it and work out how to live well with it."

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