Prof. Mark Nasila, Chief Data and Analytics Officer in FNB Chief Risk Office.

Mark Nasila, chief data and analytics officer of the risk function at FNB, sees his job as helping the bank leverage data to manage risk effectively and proactively. It’s a role he’s filled since 2019, which was when the bank decided to implement its first AI models to assist with risk assessment and risk identification processes.

Since then, Nasila has gone on to develop a more fully formed, five-pronged strategy to infuse AI further into the bank’s risk function and the wider banking group. It was this approach, along with actions taken to improve his public standing as a sector expert, that impressed the IITPSA judges sufficiently to crown him the winner of the 2023 Technology Excellence award late last year.