Artificial intelligence (AI) has arrived.

AI is now playing an increased role in our lives, and will impact our work, our sector and the communities we support in ways we cannot yet even predict. For the financial counselling sector, we know that AI will bring great opportunities to improve efficiencies and reduce the administrative load, but we also know there are significant risks and concerns about using AI within the financial counselling sector.

Financial Counselling Victoria’s (FCVic) Digital Transformation Roadmap report series is an evidence-based starting point for our members, agencies and the wider financial counselling sector across Australia to understand how we can respond and safely adapt to the changing digital landscape. 

The Digital Transformation Roadmap covers three important components to guide our sector in how we adopt and respond to emerging technologies.

Our Financial Counselling AI Use Cases and Roadmap Report  sets out five clear ‘use case’ examples of how AI is currently being adopted and sets out a clear roadmap for agencies and the broader financial counselling sector to adopt AI safely into the future. Informed by surveys and workshops with agencies and financial counsellors across Victoria and New South Wales, the report’s findings on AI use cases and roadmap for AI adoption should be read in conjunction with the AI Ethics Framework for Financial Counselling.

The AI Ethics Framework for Financial Counselling gives clear and essential guidance to our sector on how to adopt AI safely for financial counselling – in a way that is client-centred, as a value central to the profession, and respects client confidentiality and informed consent.

Developed by our technology partner Infoxchange, and informed by financial counsellors and agency representatives across Victoria and New South Wales, the AI Ethics Framework for Financial Counselling sets out the key guiding principles for using AI safely and responsibly in financial counselling.

Our Financial Counselling Systems Landscape Report provides a clear picture of the systems and data environment across the financial counselling sector. Understanding the systems currently used to deliver financial counselling is essential to improving service delivery, reducing administrative pressure and supporting more effective use of technology across agencies.

We are grateful to the Financial Counsellors’ Association of New South Wales (FCAN) and our technology partner Infoxchange, for our strong collaboration and partnership on this project, and our funder, the Financial Counselling Industry Fund (FCIF). Most of all, we appreciate the significant input of many financial counsellors, financial capability workers and agency staff, who provided their insights and experience to shape the findings of the reports through the Reference Group overseeing the project and participation in our surveys and workshops.

To ensure the longevity and growth for our sector, we must respond to emerging technologies and adapt to using AI and improve our systems with the same care and client-focussed mindset that our members bring to their vital work every day.

We invite all stakeholders to join FCVic, FCAN and our wider sector to ensure our members are supported to safely adapt to using AI and new technologies and systems to benefit their own practices, and ultimately, the clients in the communities in which they serve.