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The third TechIsland FinPro Community Meetup, powered by payabl., convened on 19 November 2025 at ‘The Warehouse by IT Quarter’ in Limassol, offering a detailed examination of how artificial intelligence is shaping financial operations and organisational strategy.
The panel discussion, titled AI in Finance: Starting Smart, Scaling Safely, and Building the Future Workforce, explored the realities of AI adoption in finance. Speakers discussed implementation challenges, governance requirements, and the capabilities finance teams will need as AI-driven systems become more embedded in daily work.
AI or IA?
A central theme emerged through the intervention of Kyriakos Kokkinos, Executive Advisor to the Board of Directors at CL8 and former Deputy Minister for Research, Innovation and Digital Policy. He urged participants to shift the conversation from fear of AI to a more grounded understanding of its role. He noted that while AI can process information at scale, it cannot substitute the human qualities that shape responsible decision-making, such as passion, ethics, and contextual judgement. Kokkinos highlighted the concept of IA – intelligent assistant – positioning technology as a support layer that strengthens human performance rather than competes with it.
This perspective set the tone for the wider discussion, prompting reflection on how finance teams can work alongside emerging tools while maintaining oversight, accountability, and strategic clarity.
The panel featured:
- George Demetriou, CFO, Nexxie Group
- Artemakis Artemiou, Data Architect, Bank of Cyprus
- Sergey Smirnov, Group Financial Controller, DataArt
The discussion was moderated by Thekla Paschali, Chief Technology Officer, payabl.
The meetup underscored a growing consensus: the future of finance will depend not only on the adoption of advanced technologies, but on how effectively organisations position these systems as intelligent assistants that elevate human capability.
