Press Release: IV Edition of "Women in Fintech and AI" Conference

Last week we concluded the IV Edition of "Women in Fintech and AI" event in the picturesque city of Rethymno, Greece. The two-day event gathered leading academics, professionals, and enthusiasts in the fields of fintech and artificial intelligence (AI) to discuss advancements, share knowledge, and foster collaboration. The conference was organized by the FinAI COST Action (CA19130) and hosted in the University of Crete.

Day 1: 27 June 2024

The event kicked off with the participants’ registration and core group meeting for the FinAI COST members.

Key session included:

• Welcome remarks and opening of the conference
• Keynote Speech delivered by Maria Ampartzaki from the University of Crete which set the tone for the scientific discussions to follow
• Two parallel sessions delved into specialized topics. The topics were: “Fintech Transperency and Literacy” and “AI and Tax Transparency”

Day 2: 28 June 2024

The day started with the parallel working group meetings (WG1, WG2, WG3). It covered the following topics:

• AI tools for fraud prevention, employee perceptions of transformation, socio-cultural factors in fintech adoption, and unfair banking terms
• Discussions on narrative digital finance, fair predictions for credit approvals, digital transformation in finance, and data classifications using Clifford algebra
• Focus on gender diversity in fintech leadership, financial transparency, green financing challenges in the Western Balkans, and new models for trading renewable energy

Later on, there were parallel working sessions on the FinAI COST deliverables. The topics included:

• Methodological discussions on AI models for investment product trials and network data analysis
• Scientific achievements and publication plans
• Science communication strategies
• Annual reports for broader audiences

The next part was the Scientific Programme - Machine Learning for Fintech and AI. We held the presentations on topics such as macroeconomic forecasting, asset allocation, ML model auditing, and generative adversarial networks.

Last part of the event involved the Best WI-FI 2024 Presentation Award. There were 5 presentations, out of which the Stefana Belbe's paper was selected by jury. It was entitled "Evaluation of the Space-Time Effects of Covid-19 on Loans and Savings in Romania - A Spatial Panel Data Approach at County Level" (co-authored with Moldovan, Andrieș, Otto, and Mare).

The event ended with the closing remarks to reflect on the insights gained.