The ethical use of data, and the extensive use of AI in day-to-day customer interactions have been an area of increased focus for politicians and regulators globally, as well as for news and media channels, over the last couple of years. New centres of research, such as the UK Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, have been established and sit alongside the research developed by ?big tech? companies across the world.

If financial institutions lose their status as trusted custodians of customer data, they may well lose their licence to operate. In mainstream financial services, all forms of institutions are increasingly coming to understand the liabilities associated with data ownership and the use of autonomous technologies. While the amount of coverage in these areas has increased recently, for financial institutions the reality is that the ethical use of customer data has been a focus for some time.  A good example is the ?Principles of Reciprocity? which were developed as a basis for sharing customer data with third-party providers in order to better undertake credit checks.