Blog

Here you will find information about our past and ongoing projects, as well as opinions on current topics in Banking Analytics.

April 3, 2025by Cristian0

Our latest paper, from our lab member Mahsa Tavakoli, is out. This was in collaboration with Prof. Rohitash Chandra at UNSW in Australia

When it comes to understanding how credit ratings are determined, most studies have focused only on numbers—like financial ratios and balance sheets. But in the real world, a lot of important information is found in written documents, such as company reports or news articles. In our study, we looked at how combining both numbers and text using deep learning models could improve the prediction of credit ratings. We tested different types of models and ways to blend the data, and we found that a model based on CNN (a type of deep learning model) that mixes information early and in the middle of the process gave the best results. Surprisingly, simpler models worked better than more complex ones, and the text information—like what’s written about a company—was even more useful than numbers in predicting credit ratings.

We also checked how reliable our model is when things change, such as during big events like the COVID-19 pandemic. The results showed our model stayed stable and still made good predictions, especially when using text data. Another interesting finding was that credit ratings given by Moody’s were more accurate over time than those from other rating agencies. This could help financial institutions trust those ratings more when making decisions. Overall, our study shows that using both text and numbers together can lead to smarter and more reliable credit rating predictions. It also opens the door for better tools that can help people make confident financial decisions—even during uncertain times.

The paper was published a bit ago at Applied Soft Computing. You can find the paper Open Access here, and its ArXiV version here.



February 17, 2025by Cristian0

I was on the CBC News’ Weekend Business Panel this week speaking about Trump’s Tariffs, part 2, and the end of the HST holiday.

  1. No one wins in a trade war. The 2018 aluminum and steel tariffs cost 75,000 jobs in the US and 2,000 people in EI, just in the few months they were up. Trying to choose winners and losers creates a few temporary winners at the cost of everyone else. The BoC is now being more measured, as they know they won’t be able to respond with force if we have tariff-induced stagflation.

  2. The HST holiday was, as I said in the panel in December, a whole lot of nothing. Almost no growth impact, with only restaurant owners and workers reporting a significant increase in sales. We are waiting to see its impact on the government’s debt, which, if meaningful, would mean we are all paying for this in the future.

Give it a watch below!



January 23, 2025by Cristian0

I started this year’s participation on the CBC News’ Weekend Business Panel by discussing what I’m sure will be common in my future media apparitions: Incoming President Trump’s policies and how they affect Canada.

This week, I discussed the new tariff threat and Canada’s response (they would be severe, and we should not be showing our hand to have a stronger negotiating position) and the TikTok ban (the influencer economy will be fine, but there is much more at stake than simply that, it’s a geopolitical issue).

Give it a watch below!

 



November 25, 2024by Cristian0

I was on the CBC News‘ Weekend Business Panel this Saturday, speaking about three topics:

1. The Canada Post Strike: The company is in dismal financial status, with seven years of losses, each year beating the next. The company wants to turn more into an Amazon-like delivery service, with contractors delivering parcels over the weekend, while the union wishes for their members to get paid overtime for these deliveries. Both of these requirements are unrealistic. Canada Post functions in a highly competitive environment, one where labour laws are many times overlooked. A solution must come via rethinking what is as modern post service that reaches rural and urban Canadians, possibly some reforms to the labour code to protect delivery workers across companies and provide a level playing field, and a more lean, efficient post office that delivers services as Canadian need them. Otherwise, the crown corporation is, in my opinion, doomed.

2. The GST holiday and the $200 incentive: This is a terrible policy. At best, it displaces consumption and reduces the fiscal arks with limited economic impact. At worst, it compounds an inflationary environment given the promised increased expenses by the incoming US president. If the latter occurs, then the BoC will react and either stay further rate cuts or, in a more extreme situation, increase the interest rate, eliminating any impact. This is a populist measure that has, sadly, proven quite popular by Doug Ford’s similar measures.

3. The latest inflation numbers: They were squarely in the BoC’s estimates, so nothing serious here. I do believe that the BoC hast to be cautious about the future. Donald Trump’s protectionist and expansionary policies may lead to an even weaker CAD, thus the risk of importing inflation in the future is high. The BoC must be thinking carefully whether they can keep cutting the interest rate or should they wait to see the impact of Trudeau’s, Ford’s and Trump’s policies.

Give it a watch below! This is my last panel of the year. I come back live on January 18th.



November 10, 2024by Cristian0

I am recruiting up to two new Ph.D. students for entry September 2025. I am running a shorter recruiting cycle this year given the new constraints on international students (Deadline: December 2nd, 2024!). The ad below:

Ph.D. Position in Banking Analytics – Department of Statistical and Actuarial Sciences, Western University

The Banking Analytics Lab at Western University invites applications for a fully funded Ph.D. position focusing on financial contagion in corporate and consumer credit risk. This cutting-edge research project aims to understand and model the interconnected nature of credit risk across different sectors of the economy, with direct applications in banking and financial regulation.

Position Details:
– Full funding guaranteed for four years.
– Annual stipend of CAD$30,000.
– Direct collaboration opportunities with major banks and regulatory bodies.
– Access to unique datasets and computing resources, plus annual funds for travelling and expenses.

The successful candidate will:
– Develop novel methodologies for analyzing financial contagion using deep learning techniques in consumer retail, small business lending, and/or corporate lending.
– Work at the intersection of machine learning, statistics, and banking over real, challenging datasets solving problems at the forefront of modern banking.
– Contribute to both academic research and practical applications.
– Engage with industry partners and regulatory bodies.

Required Qualifications:
– Master’s degree in Statistics, Operations Research, Computer Science, Economics, or related fields.
– Strong quantitative and programming skills. Python programming and knowledge of modern methods (pytorch, polars, spark, arrow, duckdb) is a strong plus.
– Excellent written and verbal communication abilities.
– Demonstrated interest in banking and financial applications.

Application Process:
1. Submit your CV and academic transcripts by December 2nd, 2024 to cbravoro@uwo.ca. Please mention your GRE scores and TOEFL/IELTS or similar tests, if available.
2. Selected candidates will be invited for interviews that same week.
3. Successful interviewees will be invited to submit a formal application to Western University.
4. Final acceptance will be determined by the Graduate Affairs Committee.

To apply or for more information, please contact me at cbravoro@uwo.ca.

The Banking Analytics Lab values diversity and encourages applications from all qualified individuals, including women, members of visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, and persons with disabilities. This position is available to anyone, worldwide.

At least one of these positions will be cosupervised by Dr. María Óskarsdóttir at Southampton University. The job post is below:

https://lnkd.in/gZ92cxaZ



October 17, 2024by Cristian0

Our latest preprint is out! Check it out on ArXiV.

Imagine making important decisions—like adjusting credit limits or recommending treatments—where there are multiple options instead of only “yes or no”. In our latest research, we asked whether traditional methods of estimating causal effects are enough for these complex situations. But what exactly is a causal effect? Simply put, a causal effect measures how one action directly impacts an outcome—like how increasing a credit limit might influence a customer’s spending behavior. Typically, these causal estimates help us make the “best” decision, but we found they don’t always tell the whole story.

Our study dives into what’s called a “multitreatment scenario”, where the range of possible actions isn’t limited to just one choice. For example, adjusting a credit limit could involve not only deciding whether to change it, but also determining by how much. In our case, the outcome we aimed to optimize was continuous—for instance the expected profit from adjusting credit card limits, and also the outcome was observable both before and after treatment.

We explored a new method that combines causal effect estimation with additional criteria like uncertainty measures and a “prediction condition”.  To truly enhance decision quality, we went beyond the traditional methods and added a fresh perspective. We brought in a measure called Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR), which allowed us to understand potential worst-case scenarios, not just the average outcome. Think of CVaR as a safety net that ensures we don’t overlook possible downsides while aiming for the best result.

We also introduced a “predictive condition” to help ensure our recommendations would actually be beneficial. Essentially, the predictive condition means we only recommend an action if we can confidently predict that the outcome will improve compared to where it started. In the context of adjusting credit limits, this meant that any suggested change had to show a clear increase in expected profit compared to the one corresponded to the original limit. This safeguard adds another layer of confidence, making sure that each decision made was a true upgrade rather than just a guess.

When applied to financial decision-making—adjusting credit card limits for consumers—we found that this combined approach outperformed traditional models. It wasn’t just about predicting the treatment effect, but also understanding how confident we could be about that effect while balancing it against other possible outcomes.

What makes this important is its broader applicability. Whether it’s deciding a financial policy, optimizing healthcare treatment doses, or managing resources, this refined approach could change how we navigate complex decisions. By blending causal analysis with a richer understanding of uncertainty, we can make recommendations that are not just statistically sound, but also practically more effective and personalized.

Our study is a step towards smarter decision-making in areas where “one size fits all” just doesn’t cut it. This work helps ensure that recommendations, whether in finance, healthcare, or any other field, are optimized not just for an average effect but for the best possible outcome across a range of real-world scenarios.

You can also listen to a machine-generated podcast of the preprint below.



September 23, 2024by Cristian0

I was on the panel once again, for the second time this month (no more until November though!), now discussing the latest inflation numbers and the 50 bps rate cut by the Fed. Like all panels, I got to speak about a couple of other topics too.

  • Rogers acquiring Maple Leafs Sports Entertainment.

With this, Rogers becomes the majority owner of the company, acquiring it from Bell. It gives them one of the most popular platforms for marketing in the country, and in the US as well, increasing brand recognition (through the Raptors). Interestingly, to avoid competition inquiries, Bell will have the option to renew their broadcast agreement at “fair market value”, including 50% content rights for the team’s games. However, this move gives Rogers though a near-complete control of the sports rights in Canada. They already own the Toronto Blue Jays, Rogers Centre and Sportsnet, plus many other investments in teams across the country.

From Bell’s point of view, this eases financial pressures the group has been feeling for a while now, following their plan to streamline operations. Bell wants to focus on tech and comms, nothing else. This deal really showcases the value of Canadian sports teams. The Maple Leafs are the NHL most valuable team, but the Raptors are also the 10th most valuable team in the NBA.

  • Inflation and the Fed Rate Cut

We are seeing that inflation is at a low point now, both in terms of the base-year effect (comparing it to a very high price last year) and momentum in the economy slowing down. Gas is the main reason the CPI has slowed down so much. That one is both seasonal and base-price effect. If you adjust by seasonality, the CPI rose a little bit. The biggest contributors are housing costs (both rents and mortgages). As interest rates are coming down, people on variable rates are having a lower cost, so mortgage costs increases are moderating (“only” 18.8%, coming down from 30.9%), but they are still very high in comparison to a few years ago. Rent costs are still high with no sign of slowing down, which has more to do with landlords passing the higher mortgage costs onto renters, and the very tight housing market we know they are in. Another interesting movement is the drop in clothing and footwear. Normally, August sees price increases, but demand has been very slow for these products, leading to a decrease in prices. Most likely, the lower disposable income that families have is starting to permeate across the economy.

So, what does this mean? It means the economy keeps slowing down, now at a lower pace than even the BoC likes. The question is what does the BoC do in October. There is still one more report on inflation next month, so if we see this slow down is persistent and remains below their target, they may consider giving a boost to the economy, in the form of a 50 bps instead of 25 that the market expects. The last important topic is what the Fed behaviour means for Canada. The BoC started with rate cuts a lot earlier, we are already on our third, so, while there cannot be much disparity between our rates and the US’, we are nowhere near that. We should keep our monetary policy independent of the US’ now. If anything, this supports the BoC decision to start cutting rates early.

  • Tupperware going bust

The company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, so this means it will probably not die completely, but restructure and come back in a different form. Tupperware is a multi-level marketing company. These companies depend on the considerable labour force that they have. Over to 465k collaborators worldwide. They make a very limited amount, though, like all MLM companies. The average collaborator (“consultant” as they call it) made US$ 525 per year. The FTC said in 2008 that 99.7% of all consultants lost money when selling their products.

Several factors led to the company’s woes: Their business model not adapting to the 21st century online dynamic, a poor supply chain, and the commoditization of their wares (the moat as it’s so trendy now to say). This even happened as the market for plastic containers has kept growing, it’s just split far more. Over CAD $2b in sales last year. That’s 18% more than before the pandemic. However, competition and the fact that their product is a commodity by now (a Generic Trademark), really impacted their bottom line. After having been acquired in part by private equity, they had to fight being sold in pieces.

To me, this also shows the failure of the MLM business model. Which maybe is a good thing. MLM schemes are not really economically sound business models for the collaborators. There are even internet forums and websites dedicated to calling them out.



September 3, 2024by Cristian0

I got to be at the CBC News’ panel once again this weekend. We discussed three topics:

  1. The Equifax report that showed an increase in arrears in Canadians between 26-35. While the increase is modest, this segment of the population is one of the most vulnerable ones. I don’t think there is any structural issue that would threaten the overall economy, but it does identify a segment of the population that are financially stressed.
  2. Flair Airlines’ $1 base fare. A nice marketing gimmick, that has been shown to increase competition moderately with a 1% to 5% reduction in prices.
  3. LEGO is now aiming to produce 50% of their plastic from recycled materials by 2026, after failing to meet a 100% goal previously stated. Legos were shown to be the most polluting plastic toy, because of the ABS plastic they create their bricks with. These new goals are less ambitious than their previous ones, and show how challenging it is to reduce dependence on plastic. Environmentally conscious consumers will be better serve by using their Legos for longer instead of shopping for recycled ones.

Give a watch to the business panel below. As always, comments are welcome!



July 22, 2024by Cristian0

It’s rare that I get to speak more about the tech side of my Fintech expertise (beyond AI, of course), but with the CrowdStrike bug making a mess around the world, I had the chance to do so on Saturday at CBC and Friday at CTV.

We discussed the impact of this on the financial system, and potential future measures to take given this critical infrastructure’s vulnerability. My take here is that we don’t put the same level of scrutiny to software companies as we do physical infrastructure, even though the consequences of a severe outage of the former can be just as severe. We trust that the companies themselves will have teams that do sufficient quality control. Why? For most critical systems, we require independent verifications. Why not for these companies that supervise, with full privileged access, a big chunk of the corporate systems?

Watch the Weekend Business Panel at the link below!



July 17, 2024by Cristian0

I was asked my opinion on the latest inflation numbers today by Global News. I got to try Western University‘s new studio! Green screen and all.

In summary: Almost in line with what was expected, 2.7% vs 2.8%. There is an 86% chance of a cut next week, but I doubt it will be more than 0.25%, too early to stimuli the economy too much.

The lighting was a bit too strong, so I had to take off my glasses xD. Give it a watch at the link below!

Bank of Canada rate-cut odds rise after June inflation release