Regulatory Alerts2023-01-01
CB Circular No. 34/2023 on AI Deployment and UAT Refresher Training for Financial Complaint Handling
The Bank of Zambia has issued Circular No. 34/2023 to mandate financial institutions and payment service providers to integrate the Thandizo AI chatbot for managing consumer complaints across web, SMS, WhatsApp, and Facebook channels. Institutions must send three customer service and ICT officers to a refresher training on system navigation and chatbot integration scheduled for December 15, 2023. Nomination lists must be submitted by December 12, 2023, ahead of the phased system launch that begins with the webchat channel on December 21, 2023.
[Logo: Bank of Zambia]
Bank of Zambia
OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY GOVERNOR - OPERATIONS
BOZ/EXEC/DGO/nbfis/bp
December 1, 2023
CB Circular No. : 34/2023
To : Heads of Financial Institutions and Payment Service Providers
DEPLOYMENT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN FINANCIAL COMPLAINT HANDLING – INTEGRATION AND REFRESHER TRAINING IN USER ACCEPTANCE TESTING
Reference is made to CB Circular No. 15/2023, on the above subject.
The Bank of Zambia (BoZ) in collaboration with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), with the support of the African Development Bank, is working on a Project that will deploy Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Financial Consumer Complaint Management. The multilingual AI enabled chatbot (named as Thandizo) shall be deployed using four channels namely: the website chatbots (webchats), SMS, WhatsApp and Facebook. The AI enabled chatbot project is instrumental in furtherance of financial consumers’ access to affordable redress mechanisms so as to contribute to digital financial inclusion.
Kindly be advised that the BoZ will proceed to launch the system in a phased manner by launching the webchat channel in the first stage while the SMS channel and social media channels shall be deployed in the second and third stages respectively. The webchat channel shall be deployed on BoZ, CCPC, financial service providers and payment service providers websites. The webchat will be branded with the corporate colour of the hosting institution but will have the exact content and applications across all institutions. The webchat channel is planned to go live on Thursday, December 21, 2023.
In view of the above, the BoZ, together with Proto (the system developer), have organised a mop up User Acceptance Testing Refresher Training to be held on Friday, December 15, 2023. The main objective of the refresher training is to remind your institution’s Customer Service and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) staff who attended the previous trainings on how to navigate and use the system when it is operationalised. Additionally, the BoZ will, during the meeting, guide your ICT staff on how to integrate the Thandizo Chatbot. Kindly find attached Thandizo Website Integration Guide that shall be referenced to during the meeting. It is, therefore, important that appropriate senior staff in Customer Service and ICT attend this training.
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Bank Square, Cairo Road, P.O. Box 30080, Lusaka, Zambia Tel:+260-211-399303, 399300, E-mail: dgo@boz.zm. Web: http://www.boz.zm
CB Circular No. 34/2023 - 2 - December 1, 2023
In this regard, your institution is requested to send three officers to attend the refresher training scheduled for Friday, December 15, 2023, at 09:00 hours in the BoZ Auditorium. Kindly send your list of nominees to the following emails: mmusantu@boz.zm; kkembani@boz.zm; and smudenda@boz.zm by close of business on December 12, 2023.
[Signature]
Francis Chipimo (PhD) DEPUTY GOVERNOR – OPERATIONS
cc Governor Deputy Governor – Administration Director – Non-Bank Financial Institutions Supervision Director – Bank Supervision Director – Payment Systems Director – Information and Communication Technology
Bank Square, Cairo Road, P.O. Box 30080, Lusaka, Zambia Tel:+260-211-399303, 399300, E-mail: dgo@boz.zm. Web: http://www.boz.zm