Banks are being told to own their AI models. The Central Bank of Kenya is asking a different question: who stays accountable, and can you exit?
This paper tests the own-or-rent choice against the CBK’s draft AI Guidance Note, a published cost model and African-language benchmarks. It reaches three findings:
Cost: owning model weights rarely pays back at modest volume.
Performance: open models lose more ground in African languages than in English.
Control: most of what regulators ask for sits outside the weights.
The recommendation is to own the Owned Layer in every case: your evaluations, data, routing, logs, keys and a tested exit. The paper then gives a one-page Rent / Own Test and applies it to five common bank workloads.
Written for chief executives, boards and the chief information, risk and finance officers of East African banks. Download the full 21-page paper below.
