“Game Changer”: The Multiple Ways Artificial Intelligence is Transforming Our Lives, Discussed at the Ninth Edition of the ISF European Financial Services Conference
Representatives from academia and regulatory institutions joined experienced professionals from financial markets at the ninth edition of the European Financial Services Conference (ECFS 2025), organized by the Institute of Financial Studies (ISF). The topic of discussion: digitalization, and particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its impact on our daily lives.
The conclusion in two words: game changer. Whether highlighting the benefits that AI brings to consumers and will continue to bring, or emphasizing the risks that accompany these benefits, all specialists present at the event agreed that our lives are no longer the same as they were just a few years ago, and the transformations are only just beginning.
At the opening of ECFS 2025, the representative of the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF), Vice-President for the insurance-reinsurance sector, Sorin Mititelu, reviewed the major legislative changes introduced at the European Union level and their concrete impact on the interaction between consumers and providers of financial products and services.
“Digitalization is so present in our lives that we probably take many things for granted. And yet, there is much to be done. The process of transforming the economy is only at its beginning. Many things will happen due to technological advancements. The initial reaction is rejection because it involves a new framework and additional costs, but the evolution will continue,” said Sorin Mititelu.
Continuing his presentation, the ASF Vice-President discussed two European legislative initiatives: the DORA Directive, already in effect and aimed at enhancing cybersecurity, and the FIDA Directive, still under discussion, which will regulate access to data in the financial sector.
“You are surely familiar with DORA, and we all know that its provisions are applicable from January 1. Many aspects are just beginning, so the implementation process is still taking shape. We will follow up with a revision of the measures to ensure the principle of proportionality is respected, focusing on areas where the risk is systemic and could endanger consumers and the entire market. Let me remind you of DORA’s main requirements: Risk management, which is already happening—this risk must be managed separately with additional control; Incident reporting—aimed at increasing response speed; Digital resilience testing—aimed at increasing comfort levels; Stricter management of third-party service providers—a special focus is needed on outsourced services; Information sharing,” explained the ASF official.
Closely related to DORA’s fifth objective, information sharing, there is another directive still under discussion at the EU level, which, according to Mr. Sorin Mititelu, will have a direct and visible impact on consumers.
“Once there is control over data, the next step is sharing this data among all financial entities. The move toward open finance will be made. We already see benefits of this kind in payment applications. We can already operate fund transfers from a single application with access from multiple providers. The transition is multidimensional, and the one concerning data is, in turn, very important. In addition to data portability, interoperability and relationship generation are desired. This will bring clear benefits to agricultural insurance, health insurance, and even car insurance. Why? Because, based on data sharing, products can be developed that are impossible to create today. For example, usage-based insurance. Data will be used in real-time, enabling automation of claims payment processes by collecting data from the field. There are already solutions that will be used extensively. In the medical field, data collection can lead to recommendations and alerts so that the beneficiary knows they are at risk and can adjust their behavior. Examples based on this possibility can also apply to car insurance. Driver behavior can be monitored in real-time, and even the impact of a potential accident can be assessed in real-time,” stated the ASF Vice-President.
The importance of digitalization in the insurance sector was also addressed by the President of the National Union of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies (UNSAR), Alexandru Ciuncan, who noted that digitalization and AI are already present throughout the entire chain, from sales and underwriting to claims management. Citing official studies and surveys, Ciuncan highlighted that digitalization is one of the main aspects noticed by clients in insurance and that Romania ranks among the top in Europe in terms of openness to using these functionalities.
The Rector of the 1 Decembrie 1918 University in Alba Iulia, Daniel Breaz, emphasized, on the other hand, the risks associated with digitalization and, in particular, the widespread use of Artificial Intelligence. “It is becoming the most dangerous weapon of manipulation. To know how to obtain correct information, you need to know how to search. AI has been discussed more intensely for the past two years, and everyone is excited, but AI emerged with the first microchip. It has developed because we have more complex databases, but it still boils down to 0s and 1s. You will see that if you ask a question in five different ways, you won’t get two similar answers, because Artificial Intelligence seeks to satisfy the user. Ultimately, it is still the human mind that decides,” said the university professor.
Horia Gustă, President of the Association of Fund Managers, also commented on the intrusive nature of digitalization, giving the example of cryptocurrencies, whose use, unregulated until recently, grew significantly in a very short time. “It seems that in Romania, we have 600,000 crypto users. I was thinking about what an unregulated market means. The stock exchange has 220,000 investors, gathered with great effort. The capital market has grown through significant efforts by ASF, ISF, and market players. It’s hard to explain to people what these investments mean. Everyone in the market is doing financial education. All investors are the result of years of work. And an unregulated industry produced 600,000. How far does compliance go? Is it absolutely necessary? What could we do to innovate more? Europe is so regulated that you won’t find advertisements for any investment funds. There are many regulations, and they don’t help. Crypto had no rules and developed in a few years,” stated Gustă.
Valentin Ionescu, President of the ISF Board of Directors, specifically identified several risks generated by the use of AI: Algorithmic discrimination and bias, Lack of transparency and explainability, Cybersecurity risks and attacks, Dependence on inaccurate or incomplete data, and Issues related to regulatory compliance. “The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the insurance industry brings many benefits, such as improving operational efficiency, personalizing offers, and automating processes. However, there are also risks that must be managed to protect both insurance companies and their clients,” emphasized the ISF President.
Cătălin Câmpeanu, General Secretary of ISF, sees Artificial Intelligence as an opportunity that must be developed for the benefit of consumers. “AI should be seen as an opportunity, not a danger, as a tool. I believe we need to understand that AI can help us in our activities, improve our processes, and assist us greatly. For this, we need to know how to use it, understand how it works, and how to train it. AI is trained, it learns, and in a way, it’s like a new employee who needs to be prepared to progress, and we need to learn how to do this,” stated Câmpeanu.
Summarizing the points made by the other speakers, Marian Siminică, Executive Director of ISF, drew the conclusions. “The digital transition is just beginning and continues. The trend is shifting from processes to products. A while ago, we talked about digitizing activities; today, we are already discussing personalized digital financial products. Much more advantageous products that optimize acquisition costs: agricultural insurance, health insurance, and even property insurance. I noticed that the financial services market is growing, which is a very good thing. I realized that resistance to change is a barrier, but this barrier will be overcome. There are challenges we face daily. There will be an intense effort to work with clients to convince them of the necessity of digital transformations,” noted Mr. Marian Siminică.
