BoB ramps up AI adoption
Mbongeni Mguni | Monday July 13, 2026 06:00
In its simplest definition, Artificial Intelligence, better known as AI, is the revolutionary technology that uses large datasets and machine learning to replicate and improve on tasks done by humans. Botswana has developed a draft AI policy that is currently being debated by stakeholders, with a view for adoption, possibly by the end of the year.
Alice Kgathola, Strategic Planning and Risk Management department director at the BoB, told BusinessWeek that AI was already deployed in a limited manner in the central bank, with plans for further expansion of the technology.
Thus far, the BoB has adopted AI in 'now-casting' which refers to estimates of what is happening in the economy right now before official data is available.
“In financial institutions and in central banking, AI is used to drive efficiencies across fraud detection, credit risk, economic forecasting, supervisory analytics, and as well as make office automation,” she said. “We have an AI working group in the bank which is looking into incorporating aspects of AI into the operations of the bank.”
The BoB is looking at incorporating AI into procuring a data management system, that is expected to have “elements of AI,” whilst the new technology will also be used to drive efficiencies in payment systems oversight as well as for supervision and financial stability models.
“We understand that financial institutions have already adopted AI, so we can't be left behind and we have to adopt AI also in our payment systems oversight models,” Kgathola said.
The central bank is also procuring an AI-driven chatbot for its knowledge centre, which centres around the library and other intellectual competencies.
Ruth Baitshepi, the BoB’s Digitalisation and Innovation Hub coordinator, told BusinessWeek that the central bank had undertaken a survey that of AI adoption across the entire financial services sector, including banking, electronic payment services, and the non-bank financial sector.
She said the survey sought to establish what sort of AI models these financial service providers were using and what they were using them for, as well as what automation had been put into place and whether the various players have any digitalisation strategies that leverage AI.
“The findings established that the financial services providers are far ahead in terms of adoption of AI for reach out to their customers, as well as automating complex repetitive processes that could be handled by AI models as opposed to human beings, with human beings relegated to functions that require cognitive thinking and reasoning.
“They are also using AI for analysis of the market, as well as for scoring. “So there is therefore need for regulatory frameworks that would guide and also govern the ethical use of AI by the financial services sector,” she told BusinessWeek.