The department's next WU Matters event will take place on 22 October 2025 at 6 p.m. Kurt Hornik, Professor of Statistics and Computing at WU Vienna, and Karin Turner-Hrdlicka, European Central Bank (ECB), will give a keynote speech at the beginning.

Topic: "Artificial Banking – Will AI soon decide on my loan?"

Dear AI, please give me that loan!

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing entire industries and professional fields. The banking sector is all about numbers and figures, which lend themselves to computer processing. The banking industry is therefore particularly affected by the advance of AI: Algorithms can identify potentially problematic loans and reject applications for such loans. AI can also flag problematic banks to banking supervisors early on so that the banks can be wound down. But what about data protection? How much do AI systems really know? And do neural networks also make mistakes?

Lecture:

• Kurt Hornik, Professor of Statistics and Computing, Department of Finance, Accounting and Statistics, WU Vienna

• Karin Turner-Hrdlicka, Director General, On-Site and Internal Model Inspections, European Central Bank (ECB)

Discussion: 

• Gerda Holzinger-Burgstaller, CEO, Erste Bank Österreich 

• Kurt Hornik, Professor of Statistics and Computing, Department of Finance, Accounting and Statistics, WU Vienna 

• Michael Höllerer, CEO, Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien 

• Karin Turner-Hrdlicka, Director General, On-Site and Internal Model Inspections, European Central Bank (ECB)

Moderated by:

• Stefan Pichler, Professor of Banking and Finance, Department of Finance, Accounting and Statistics, WU Vienna

Language: German

General information and registration:

Artificial Banking (wu.ac.at)

We are looking forward to numerous participants from our department!