Data + Dementia
Major Financial Institution
Project Overview
Long before a diagnosis, the early signs of cognitive decline show up in everyday banking: missed bills, mistakes at the ATM, sudden changes in spending. A major financial institution held that data, and held a harder question. Not whether to use it, but how to use it without stripping the dignity of the people it would identify. I shaped the work and the narrative around that question, keeping the human story ahead of the technology.
Final Outcome
University research confirmed the hypothesis: banking behaviour can flag cognitive decline early. The work produced a tested framework for acting on that signal within the legal, privacy and dignity lines a regulated business cannot cross, and aligned risk, data, legal and customer teams behind one position. It also reframed the institution's own question, from protecting the bank from vulnerable customers to protecting vulnerable customers with what the bank already knew. The result was a board-ready capability, ready to deploy when they chose.