Artificial intelligence is no longer theoretical. It is embedded across credit decisioning, fraud prevention, customer communications, collections optimisation and portfolio management.

For smaller and specialist lenders, the challenge is not whether AI will influence their operating model – but how to implement it proportionately, transparently and defensibly. The conference will explore:

• governance frameworks for AI-driven decision-making
• managing model risk and explainability
• operational integration without disproportionate cost
• supervisory expectations under Consumer Duty.

The emphasis is on execution: how firms move from experimentation to sustainable deployment while maintaining regulatory credibility.

Innovation in lending is inseparable from data. Alternative data sources, open banking inputs, and behavioural analytics are expanding access to credit and improving risk assessment. However, increased data sophistication brings heightened regulatory scrutiny.

Catalyst will examine the evolving policy landscape, including developments surrounding the proposed Credit Information Governance Body and the implications of the Data (Use and Access) Bill. These reforms signal a shift towards more structured oversight of credit data sharing, enhanced accountability, and clearer rules around data portability and access.

For lenders, this creates both opportunity and responsibility. Firms must ensure:

• affordability assessments remain robust and evidence-based
• Consumer Duty outcomes are demonstrably fair
• data usage is transparent, proportionate and compliant
• governance frameworks can withstand regulatory challenge.

The discussion is not about resisting change – it is about ensuring innovation is defensible. As supervisory expectations evolve, firms must align technological capability with regulatory clarity.

Catalyst brings together lenders, advisers, technologists, compliance professionals and regulatory specialists. The strength of the event lies in that diversity.

By combining operational insight with policy expertise, the conference creates space for candid discussion about real-world implementation challenges – from AI explainability to data-sharing reforms and supervisory engagement.

Technological acceleration will not slow. The defining issue for consumer credit firms is how to harness innovation responsibly while preserving consumer trust and sustainable access to credit.

The CCTA Catalyst Conference exists to support that objective – offering practical insight, regulatory perspective and strategic clarity at a moment when the industry is moving from digital ambition to regulatory reality.