ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, FINANCIAL INNOVATION AND CREDIT RISK: 

SUSTAINABILITY, STABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY IN A DATA-DRIVEN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

GRETA Associati (Venice, Italy), CRIF (Bologna, Italy), Elsevier Ltd. (London), European Datawarehouse (Frankfurt am Main, Germany), and Intesa Sanpaolo (Milan, Italy) are partners in organasing a Conference to be held in Venice on September 24-25, 2026.

The C.r.e.d.i.t. 2026 conference aims to bring together leading scholars, policymakers, industry experts and PhD students to discuss recent theoretical and empirical advances in credit risk, financial innovation and artificial intelligence, with a particular focus on their implications for financial stability, sustainability and the design of credit markets. The conference provides a high-level forum for research at the frontier of finance, economics and data science, fostering dialogue between academic rigor, policy relevance and real-world applications.

The conference, organised under the auspices of the Department of Economics and VERA - Venice centre in Economic and Risk Analytics for public policies (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice), Joint Research Center European Commission, ABI - Italian Banking Association, and AIFIRM - Associazione Italiana Financial Industry Risk Managers is the twenty-fifth of a series dedicated to various aspects of risk.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF EUROPEAN FUNDING
The organization of the conference has benefitted from financial support by:

• ESG UPTAKE — TSI-2023-ESGRM-IBA - ESG risk management framework for the financial sector.  Funded by the European Commission - Grant Agreement N° 101145727.

Rapid advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning and data-driven technologies are fundamentally reshaping credit markets, financial intermediation and financial markets. AI-based models are increasingly used in credit scoring, monitoring, pricing and portfolio management, while alternative data and automated decision systems are transforming access to credit and risk allocation. At the same time, the growing reliance on AI raises critical issues related to model risk, interpretability, algorithmic bias, data governance, transparency, ethics, regulation and systemic stability. These challenges are closely intertwined with broader concerns about sustainability, understood not only in environmental terms, but also as the long-term resilience, fairness and efficiency of financial systems.

Against this background, C.r.e.d.i.t. 2026 seeks contributions that advance understanding of how AI and financial innovation affect: the measurement and management of credit risk; the stability and resilience of financial institutions and markets; the allocation of credit across firms, households and regions; the sustainable and responsible development of financial systems.

The final program will include both submitted and invited papers. Acceptances received so far from invited speakers include Viral V. Acharya (NYU Stern Business School) and Roberto Rigobon (MIT Sloan School of Management). The Conference will also include panel discussions on the major issues at stake with the views of academics, policymakers and senior industry practitioners.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Submissions are welcome on all topics related to the conference theme, including (but not limited to):

Credit Risk and Advanced Analytics

• AI- and machine learning-based credit risk models
• Explainable AI (XAI) and model transparency in credit scoring
• Stress testing, early warning systems and credit cycle analysis
• Credit risk under macroeconomic, financial and geopolitical uncertainty

Financial Innovation and Digital Transformation

• FinTech, BigTech and new models of credit intermediation
• Open banking, open finance and alternative data in credit markets
• Innovation in credit markets, securitization and risk transfer
• Regulation of financial innovation: balancing opportunity and risk

Artificial Intelligence, Data Governance and Ethical Risk

• Algorithmic bias, fairness and discrimination in credit decisions
• Data governance, privacy and cybersecurity in credit systems
• Legal accountability and responsibility of AI-driven models
• Regulatory implications of AI adoption in financial services

Sustainability and Long-Term Value Creation

• ESG factors and climate risk in credit assessment
• Sustainable finance and its impact on credit risk and pricing
• Credit, access to finance and financial inclusion
• The role of financial institutions in supporting the sustainable transition

Systemic Risk, Resilience and Policy

• Interactions between credit risk and systemic risk
• Financial stability in a data-driven and AI-enabled economy
• Macroprudential and microprudential policy responses
• Coordination between regulators, supervisors and market participants

Those wishing to present a paper at the Conference should submit by May 31, 2026 to the email address given below. Papers should represent original, high-quality research with clear theoretical, empirical or policy contributions. 

Please indicate to whom correspondence should be addressed. Decisions regarding acceptance will be made by June 30, 2026.

The final version of accepted papers must be received by August 31, 2026.

Please send papers to: Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. E' necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.

IMPORTANT DATES

• May 31, 2026 Papers submission deadline
• June 30, 2026 Paper acceptance notification
• August 31, 2026 Deadline for sending final version of accepted papers
• August 31, 2026 Deadline for early registration

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AUSPICES

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INVITED SPEAKERS

VENUE

Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista
San Polo 2454, 30125 Venezia
Tel.: +39 041 718234
Email: Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. E' necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.
Web Site: https://www.scuolasangiovanni.it/