Introduction
KBC, one of Belgium’s leading financial institutions, has a long-standing focus on responsible innovation and efficient risk management. With the European AI Act introducing new expectations around transparency, risk management, and accountability, the organization saw an opportunity to strengthen and streamline its approach to AI governance. For KBC, this meant bringing different teams’ perspectives on AI together into one coherent framework—without disrupting existing processes.
Client
KBC
Client since
2023
Services
Solutions
Technologies
The problem
Before the AI Act, KBC already managed AI in several environments, each reflecting a different team’s responsibilities. But these perspectives were not structurally connected, making it difficult to keep a complete and consistent view of AI use cases.
At the heart of the challenge were two different angles on AI:
The AI model angle (model risk team & model owners)
Model risk and model owners maintain an inventory of all AI models. They focus on the model itself—how it works, what data it uses, and how risky it is. This is where model risk scoring and technical documentation lives.
The AI system angle (compliance teams & business owners)
Compliance teams look at AI at the “system” level: a system is a business use case that may use one or more AI models. Here, assessments required by the AI Act take place, such as determining whether a system is “high-risk” or potentially “prohibited.”
Both teams were assessing the same AI use cases, but from different roles and in separate tools. To meet the AI Act requirements, KBC needed a governance solution that brought these perspectives together and connected the underlying assessments, ownership, and documentation in one place.
How we solved it
A unified governance framework built on Collibra’s AI Module
We implemented a tailored setup in Collibra that links AI systems and AI models, allowing both technical and compliance roles to work within the same structure. This brings their viewpoints together and makes it possible to assess systems and models in a coordinated way.
Assessments and workflows that embed AI Act requirements into daily operations
The solution fits into KBC’s existing processes and extends them with guided workflows, assessments, and assignments. This improves consistency and reduces manual work for all teams involved.
Designed for today, ready for tomorrow
The foundation covers the most important steps of the AI system and model lifecycle, but is built to expand. As KBC’s needs or regulatory expectations grow, the governance setup can grow with them.
The results
Centralized AI governance
KBC now manages both AI systems and AI models in one Collibra-based platform, replacing fragmented tooling with a single, structured source of truth.
Automated assessments aligned with the AI Act
Workflows guide users through compliance and risk evaluations, significantly improving speed and consistency compared to the previous manual or isolated processes.
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Clear ownership and regulatory readiness
AI use cases now have defined responsibilities, end-to-end traceability, and improved auditability—helping KBC prepare confidently for the AI Act.
Key Learnings
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