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Building trust in AI: leadership Iisights from Malaysian Fintech Boards

Building trust in AI: leadership Iisights from Malaysian Fintech Boards
Building trust in AI: leadership Iisights from Malaysian Fintech Boards
Fintech companies face the challenge of trying to lead in AI adoption while navigating potential pitfalls. The board of directors plays a critical role in demonstrating leadership and building trust with key stakeholders during the implementation of AI.

This research involves interviews with 21 board members from Malaysian Fintech companies to identify the most effective strategies for fostering trust among shareholders, staff, and customers. The findings reveal that the most effective methods for building trust differ among these three groups of stakeholders. Leaders should build trust for these three stakeholders in two ways: First, through the effective and trustworthy implementation of AI, and second, by transparently communicating how AI is used in a manner that addresses stakeholders’ concerns.

The findings show that certain applications of Generative AI can facilitate trust-building in AI, even if they are more limited in scope, and entail some sacrifice in performance. There are inherent trade-offs between unleashing Generative AI in an unrestricted way and a more constrained, transparent, and predictable application that builds trust in shareholders, staff, and customers. This balancing act, between a fast adoption of Generative AI and a more cautious, controlled approach, is central to the challenges faced by the board.
Fintech, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Finance, Board of Directors, Malaysia, Digital Transformation, Financial regulation, Trust, trust and risk, trust and reputation, trust and reputation management, CEO power
2730-9681
357-374
Springer Cham
Zarifis, Alex
7622e840-ba78-4a4f-879b-6ba0f62363cc
Yarovaya, Larisa
2bd189e8-3bad-48b0-9d09-5d96a4132889
Zarifis, Alex
Cheng, Xusen
Zarifis, Alex
7622e840-ba78-4a4f-879b-6ba0f62363cc
Yarovaya, Larisa
2bd189e8-3bad-48b0-9d09-5d96a4132889
Zarifis, Alex
Cheng, Xusen

Zarifis, Alex and Yarovaya, Larisa (2025) Building trust in AI: leadership Iisights from Malaysian Fintech Boards. In, Zarifis, Alex and Cheng, Xusen (eds.) Fintech and the Emerging Ecosystems: Exploring Centralised and Decentralised Financial Technologies. (Financial Innovation and Technology) 1 ed. Springer Cham, pp. 357-374. (doi:10.1007/978-3-031-83402-8_15).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

Fintech companies face the challenge of trying to lead in AI adoption while navigating potential pitfalls. The board of directors plays a critical role in demonstrating leadership and building trust with key stakeholders during the implementation of AI.

This research involves interviews with 21 board members from Malaysian Fintech companies to identify the most effective strategies for fostering trust among shareholders, staff, and customers. The findings reveal that the most effective methods for building trust differ among these three groups of stakeholders. Leaders should build trust for these three stakeholders in two ways: First, through the effective and trustworthy implementation of AI, and second, by transparently communicating how AI is used in a manner that addresses stakeholders’ concerns.

The findings show that certain applications of Generative AI can facilitate trust-building in AI, even if they are more limited in scope, and entail some sacrifice in performance. There are inherent trade-offs between unleashing Generative AI in an unrestricted way and a more constrained, transparent, and predictable application that builds trust in shareholders, staff, and customers. This balancing act, between a fast adoption of Generative AI and a more cautious, controlled approach, is central to the challenges faced by the board.

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978-3-031-83402-8_15 - Version of Record
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More information

Published date: 1 June 2025
Keywords: Fintech, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Finance, Board of Directors, Malaysia, Digital Transformation, Financial regulation, Trust, trust and risk, trust and reputation, trust and reputation management, CEO power

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 503096
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/503096
ISSN: 2730-9681
PURE UUID: 0342eb9c-f0f7-4818-b8d2-6ee1d60b50b2
ORCID for Alex Zarifis: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3103-4601
ORCID for Larisa Yarovaya: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9638-2917

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 21 Jul 2025 16:50
Last modified: 22 Aug 2025 02:43

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Contributors

Author: Alex Zarifis ORCID iD
Author: Larisa Yarovaya ORCID iD
Editor: Alex Zarifis
Editor: Xusen Cheng

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