AI in Financial Services Podcast: Recent Episodes
Daniel Faggella
Unlock the business value of AI in financial services with in-depth interviews on trends, use-cases, and cutting-edge best practices.
In each episode, Emerj Founder Daniel Faggella interviews leaders at firms like HSBC, Citigroup, and Visa - as well as AI innovators from Silicon Valley and around the world.
Subscribe to Emerj's weekly AI newsletter by downloading our "AI in Financial Services Cheat Sheet" PDF guide: https://emerj.com/fin1
AI is breaking down the traditional separation between technology leadership and people leadership, forcing enterprises to rethink how work is structured and how employees adopt new systems. In this episode, Guillaume Lardeux, Head of Transformation and Office of the CEO at Genesys, and Eva Majercsik, Chief People Officer at Genesys, examine how AI-driven workflow redesign requires shared ownership across functions, as discussed with host Marilie Fouché. They highlight the practical shifts involved — mapping current processes, identifying friction points, rebuilding workflows where humans and AI operate together, and supporting adoption through cultural alignment and iterative experimentation. Learn the strategies we use to help leading AI brands and startups connect with their ideal enterprise AI buyers, visit: emerj.com/AD2
Enterprises rushing agentic AI into production are running it through approval gates, batch windows, and audit systems built for human speed — and the gap is where most operational risk lives. In this episode, Chris Caldwell, President and CEO at Concentrix Corporation, examines how machine-scale transactions break processes designed for human pace and why bounded digital delegates outperform unrestricted digital twins in the enterprise. The discussion covers compliance bots that check other bots, the cost reality of poorly tuned agentic agents, and what leaders need to stop doing if they want a defensible AI roadmap. Learn how to evaluate AI vendors by assessing leadership expertise, and why funding benchmarks can signal product maturity and stability, download our free PDF report, "5 Ways to Select the Right AI Vendor," at emerj.com/aiv2.
A fundamental shift is emerging as AI moves core financial operations away from traditional web interfaces and into AI‑native cloud‑desktop environments, redefining how CFO teams execute and manage workflows. In this episode, Henry Ward, founder and CEO at Carta, examines how this transition changes the CFO operating model alongside host Daniel Faggella, highlighting why AI‑literate finance leaders gain leverage by orchestrating reporting, close processes, and analysis directly through agent‑driven systems. The discussion outlines how reusable AI skills, shared operational source files, and automated coordination reshape month‑end close, reporting agility, and cross‑team execution for modern finance organizations. To go deeper on this topic and learn how financial institutions are digitizing paper-based records to unlock usable data for AI, and using alternative data like public web and social signals to enhance risk assessment, download our free PDF report, "AI in Financial Services Executive Cheat Sheet" at emerj.com/fcs2
AI programs in financial services don't fail at the model; they fail at the seam between pilot and production, where data, integration discipline, and ownership decide whether anything reaches scale. In this episode, Jeremy Caine, Technology Strategy and Solution Leader at IBM, unpacks why banks and insurers get stuck in pilot purgatory and what an AI-native future state actually looks like in a regulated environment. The conversation covers a data product strategy that surfaces the data that matters for the use case, the industrialized software delivery lifecycle required to move AI into production, a platform-led architecture built on open foundations and automation, and the operating model shifts senior leaders need to make to convert AI investment into durable business capability. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at http://go.emerj.com/partner
Stabilizing the operational environment around underwriting judgment is the shift that enables decisions to move into the market with greater speed, consistency, and control. In this episode, Barbara Stacer, Vice President, Head of Small Commercial Underwriting and Underwriting Operations at Utica National Insurance Group, examines how governed versioning, traceable approvals, and embedded documentation close the execution gap that slows pricing changes after they leave actuarial. She outlines the practical steps leaders can take to reduce queue time, strengthen auditability, and ensure pricing updates reach production when they matter most. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at https://go.emerj.com/partner1
AI infrastructure projects are failing not because the technology underdelivers, but because organizations commit capital before establishing the business case. In this episode, Juan Orlandini, CTO at Insight, examines why enterprise AI programs stall and outlines how leaders can apply decades of established IT investment discipline to evaluate, validate, and scale AI initiatives with measurable outcomes in mind. The conversation covers organizational change management across employee adoption segments, the application of FinOps principles to AI infrastructure spending, and a minimum viable proof of concept approach for validating AI investments before scaling. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at http://go.emerj.com/partner.
Architectural decision‑making in large enterprises can break down when system knowledge is fragmented, slowing delivery and creating inconsistent outcomes across teams. In this episode, Amar Akshat, Senior Vice President of Architecture at PaySafe, examines how codified organizational memory and deterministic guardrails enable intelligent systems to accelerate development without sacrificing control. He highlights the shift toward machine‑readable decision records, intent‑driven interfaces, and standardized design patterns that help enterprises reduce drift, strengthen compliance, and move faster with greater confidence. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at http://go.emerj.com/partner
Regulated industries are facing mounting pressure to adopt AI while maintaining absolute accuracy, data protection, and clear human accountability. In this episode, Steve Hasker, CEO at Thomson Reuters, joins Emerj's Matthew DeMello to examine how these demands are reshaping expectations for model reliability, data isolation, and the future of high‑stakes regulatory work. The discussion highlights the need for transparent guardrails, expert‑trained systems, and new approaches to handling large‑scale filings without compromising oversight. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click go.emerj.com/expert1 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj's flagship 'AI in Business' podcast! Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at go.emerj.com/partner
Modern enterprise leaders face a critical strategic challenge in balancing seamless digital onboarding with the increasing threat of sophisticated, AI-driven fraud. In this episode, Mary Ann Miller, VP of Client Experience and Fraud Advisor at Prove, unpacks why a robust "welcome mat" strategy centered on high-assurance identity verification enables the safe scaling of high-value services and drives institutional ROI. The conversation examines the implementation of endpoint bot protection to counter agentic AI attacks, the transition to intelligent data pre-fill to reduce abandonment, and the role of tokenized identity in creating a persistent, frictionless customer experience. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj's flagship 'AI in Business' podcast.
Today's guest is Tal Elyashiv, Co-founder and Managing Partner at SPiCE VC. Tal joins Emerj's Nick Gertsch to explore how tokenization is moving from pilot programs into institutional-scale deployment — and what that means for settlement infrastructure, governance, and enterprise AI strategy in regulated financial systems. They discuss the real signals of production readiness, where AI is generating measurable ROI today (from compliance monitoring to customer operations), and why identity verification and human-in-the-loop controls are becoming mission-critical as AI-driven fraud accelerates. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.expert for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj's flagship 'AI in Business' podcast!
Today's guest is Kiruba Eswaran, CEO at Eleos Life. Eleos Life provides a fully digital platform for life and disability insurance. The platform offers 24/7 AI-guided assistance to help users navigate the application process, compare options, and manage coverage. It also includes optional wellness-related perks available to eligible customers. Kiruba joins Emerj Client Narrative & Content Strategy Lead, Nick Gertsch, to discuss how data and AI are reshaping insurance distribution, from improving customer education at scale to embedding protection at the right moments inside modern digital ecosystems. Kiruba also shares practical takeaways on where AI is driving real ROI, including scaling compliant policy support, increasing conversion through comprehension and "positive friction," and reserving human advisors for the empathy-heavy moments that require deeper personalization. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj's flagship 'AI in Business' podcast! Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/mediakit.
Today's guest is Debjit Saha, VP of Engineering & Product for Risk & Compliance at MoneyGram. Debjit focuses on building data- and AI-driven controls for fraud, compliance, and payments decisioning. Debjit joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explore how financial institutions can unify fraud, AML, and sanctions data amid rising costs, regulatory scrutiny, and sophisticated threats. Debjit also highlights practical steps for enterprise leaders: standardize tooling to bridge silos, shift to model-based detection to reduce false positives, and implement tiered human-in-the-loop controls for greater compliance efficiency. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj's flagship 'AI in Business' podcast!
Today's guest is Debjit Saha, VP of Engineering & Product for Risk & Compliance at MoneyGram. Debjit focuses on building data- and AI-driven controls for fraud, compliance, and payments decisioning. Debjit joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explore how payments teams can modernize risk and compliance as fraud grows more sophisticated, customer tolerance for friction shrinks, and regulators demand stronger explainability. Debjit also highlights pragmatic steps leaders can take to build credibility quickly—starting with high-impact use cases, designing for auditability, and placing human oversight where it matters most. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj's flagship 'AI in Business' podcast! If you're interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for AI consultants, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today's guest is Mary Ann Miller, VP and Fraud Executive Advisor at Prove. Mary Ann brings extensive experience in fraud prevention, identity risk, and digital onboarding across financial services. Mary Ann joins Emerj Senior Editor, Marilie Fouchè, to discuss how financial institutions are applying data and AI to modernize customer onboarding while managing fraud, risk, and regulatory requirements. Mary Ann also breaks down how AI-driven identity verification can automate manual checks, safely support data pre-fill, and flag suspicious or non-human activity earlier in the onboarding process. The conversation highlights how these workflow changes can reduce operational burden, lower customer abandonment, and improve fraud outcomes without slowing down legitimate customers. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj's flagship 'AI in Business' podcast! Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today's guest is Nicole Haverly, Vice President of Credit Unions at nCino. nCino is a provider of intelligent banking solutions. Headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, the company helps banks and credit unions modernize and streamline core banking tasks, empowering financial institutions of all sizes globally to deliver faster, more intelligent, and customer-friendly banking experiences. Nicole joins Emerj Senior Editor, Marilie Fouché, to discuss how credit unions can balance community-focused member experiences with the growing demand for digital-first engagement. Nicole also explains practical ways automation and AI can streamline account opening and lending, reduce manual data entry, and allow staff to focus on deeper, high-value member interactions, driving measurable results in efficiency, product adoption, and member retention. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj's flagship 'AI in Business' podcast!
Today's guest is Kyle Hathorn, Director of Customer Experience and Strategy at the First National Bank of Omaha. FNBO is a regional bank founded in 1857 that provides retail and commercial banking services across eight states. Kyle brings extensive experience in designing customer journeys and integrating technology to meet evolving expectations. Kyle joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to discuss how financial services leaders can leverage data and AI to create seamless, personalized, and human-centered customer experiences. He also shares practical strategies for measuring engagement, optimizing workflows, and scaling AI-driven personalization while maintaining trust and compliance. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj's flagship 'AI in Business' podcast! Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today's guest is Karan Gandhi, Senior Director for Verification and Fraud at Best Egg. Best Egg is a consumer lending platform focused on responsible, data-driven credit access. Karan joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explore how deepfakes, synthetic identities, bot attacks, and agentic systems are reshaping the fraud landscape and what these shifts mean for data and AI strategy in financial services. Karan also breaks down the practical steps enterprises can take to strengthen verification workflows, leverage metadata and OCR analysis more effectively, and frame fraud-prevention ROI in a way that secures executive buy-in for modernizing their technology stack. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj's flagship' AI in Business' podcast! If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
The introduction of DeepSeek's R1 large language model has sparked global discussion about what happens when open-source innovation meets geopolitical constraints. What does this mean for financial markets, AI development, and the future of global competition? In this episode of the 'AI in Financial Services' podcast, host Matthew DeMello speaks with Sudeep Kesh, Chief Innovation Officer at S&P Global Ratings, and Martin Whitworth, Lead Cyber Expert at S&P Global Ratings, about how DeepSeek's model reveals the evolving relationship between resource constraints, innovation, and risk management in AI. The conversation explores the technological breakthroughs behind DeepSeek's design, why open-source transparency changes the game for enterprise leaders, and how regulatory intentions often create new innovation cycles. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj's flagship' AI in Business' podcast! If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
As financial services accelerate their digital transformations, AI is reshaping how institutions identify, assess, and manage risk. But with that transformation comes an equally complex web of systemic risks, regulatory challenges, and questions about accountability. In this episode of the AI in Business podcast, host Matthew DeMello, Head of Content at Emerj, speaks with Miriam Fernandez, Director in the Analytical Innovation Team specializing in AI research at S&P Global Ratings, and Sudeep Kesh, Chief Innovation Officer at S&P Global Ratings. Together, they unpack how generative AI, agentic systems, and regulatory oversight are evolving within one of the most interconnected sectors of the global economy. The conversation explores how AI is amplifying both efficiency and exposure across financial ecosystems — from the promise of multimodal data integration in risk management to the growing challenge of concentration and contagion risks in increasingly digital markets. Miriam and Sudeep discuss how regulators are responding through risk-based frameworks such as the EU AI Act and DORA, and how the private sector is taking a larger role in ensuring transparency, compliance, and trust. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj's flagship 'AI in Business' podcast! If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Andy Byrne, Founder and CEO of Clari, returns to share early findings from Clari’s upcoming report on AI in revenue operations. The headline: 2024 was tough — only 33% of revenue leaders hit plan — yet 91% expect to hit 2025 targets, largely due to AI. Andy breaks down how leaders are using predictive AI to surface risk and momentum and generative AI to create, convert, and close across deals, reps, products, and regions. He details why internal conversational data often outperforms external signals, what “agentic strategies” look like in practice, and why non-adopters risk leadership churn. We close with a tactical playbook for forming a CRO–CIO steering committee, mapping human workflows, and running focused conversion experiments that ladder to measurable revenue lift. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj’s flagship’ AI in Business’ podcast! If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Andy Byrne, Founder and CEO of Clari. Clari is an AI-driven platform that transforms how financial institutions manage revenue operations and forecasting, turning complex data into clear, actionable insights for confident decision-making. Their platform delivers forecasts and enterprise-wide insights, giving financial institutions the predictability and confidence they need to drive growth at scale. Andy joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello on the AI in Business podcast to discuss how predictive and generative AI are transforming revenue operations, particularly in financial services. Andy explains how revenue leaders are using predictive AI to increase forecast accuracy, identify risks, and improve shareholder value, while generative and agentic AI are beginning to automate sales workflows and reduce the burden of manual tracking. Together, they explore the hype cycle around agentic AI, where the failures are likely to emerge, and how financial institutions like Capital One and Charles Schwab are deploying these technologies today. Byrne also highlights the critical role of “revenue context” — understanding who did what, when, and with what outcome — as a foundation for scaling AI-driven revenue platforms. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj’s flagship’ AI in Business’ podcast! Join enterprise leaders at Emerj’s Vision to Value AI Infra Summit to explore strategies for building, securing, and scaling AI infrastructure. Reserve your free spot today: emerj.com/infrasummit4. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest on the ‘AI in Financial Services’ podcast is Charleyne Biondi, Associate Vice President of Moody’s Ratings in the Digital Economy Team. Charleyne Biondi, Associate Vice President of Moody’s Ratings in the Digital Economy Team. Charleyne returns to the program to share her perspective on the rapidly evolving landscape of AI regulation, comparing the EU AI Act, the US sector-specific approach, and emerging international frameworks. She outlines how regulatory divergence is shaping adoption, trust, and compliance costs for companies operating globally. Charleyne also emphasizes the risks of regulatory fragmentation in the US, where state-level laws often impose requirements as stringent as Europe’s. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj’s flagship’ AI in Business’ podcast! If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest on the ‘AI in Financial Services’ podcast is Charleyne Biondi, Associate Vice President of Moody’s Ratings in the Digital Economy Team. Charleyne brings a broad perspective on how AI adoption is unfolding in financial services and the wider global economy. She explains how generative AI has lowered adoption barriers, accelerating experimentation while raising new challenges around integration, risk, and reliability. While many businesses see immediate efficiency gains at the individual level, Charleyne notes that true productivity impact requires deeper organizational transformation—connecting AI to legacy IT systems, retraining staff, and ensuring secure and reliable outputs. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj’s flagship’ AI in Business’ podcast! If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Gautam Samanta, President and Executive Director, Head of Global Banking and Financial Services at Coforge. Coforge is a global IT services firm specializing in digital solutions for industries such as banking, insurance, travel, and manufacturing, with a focus on domain-driven consulting and emerging technologies like AI and cloud. Gautam joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to unpack how banking and financial services leaders can align digital transformation with business goals, move generative AI and blockchain initiatives beyond the hype, and build resilience through cybersecurity, modernization, and global delivery strategies. Their conversation also explores how mid-market banks are scaling offshore capabilities, and why strong data governance and a clear cultural vision are critical to navigating the next wave of change in financial services. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj’s flagship’ AI in Business’ podcast! If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Kyle Hathorn, Director of Customer Experience and Strategy at First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO). FNBO is a privately held, family-led financial institution with over $32 billion in assets and approximately 4,500 employees, offering personal, business, commercial, and wealth banking across eight Midwestern states, alongside a national reach through its credit‑card programs. Kyle joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explore how banks can meet rising customer expectations while navigating economic uncertainty and digital transformation. Together, they unpack the unique challenges of delivering seamless, personalized experiences in a heavily regulated, multi-platform environment. From the impacts of inflation on customer loyalty to the cautious integration of AI, Kyle emphasizes the importance of trust, transparency, and alignment across product and data teams. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj’s flagship’ AI in Business’ podcast! If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Itumeleng Masunyane, Senior Vice President of Internal Audit at Amicorp Group. Together, they examine the shifting landscape of compliance and internal audit as organizations adopt more advanced forms of AI, including agentic systems. The conversation begins by outlining why traditional, manual audit processes often struggle to keep pace with evolving regulations across multiple jurisdictions—leading to inconsistencies, burnout, and heightened risk. Itumeleng explains how AI-driven automation and predictive modeling can help teams reconcile regulatory requirements, detect anomalies in real-time, and generate more reliable audit trails. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj’s flagship ‘AI in Business’ podcast! This episode is sponsored by Automation Anywhere. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Sophia Qureshi, VP of Product Management for Fraud Solutions at Provenir. Provenir is a fintech company whose AI decisioning platform helps clients manage credit risk, prevent fraud, and stay compliant across the customer lifecycle. Sophia joins the podcast to discuss the evolving threat landscape and how AI is changing the balance of power. Later, she explains the ways fraud detection has traditionally relied on deterministic technologies like anomaly detection and how the rise of generative AI has enabled more sophisticated fraud tactics, from deepfake identity forgeries to large-scale phishing campaigns. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
What does it take to build truly intelligent customer experiences at enterprise scale? In this episode of the AI in Business podcast, Shardul Vikram, Chief Product Officer of SAP Application AI, returns to explore the critical role of generative AI in transforming CX across industries. From telecom to healthcare, Shardul breaks down how leading firms are aligning data strategy, automation, and personalization to drive measurable impact in both B2C and B2B environments. Shardul outlines SAP’s vision for “intelligent CX” — where AI doesn’t just automate tasks but bridges the gap between front-line support and back-office execution. Throughout the episode, he underscores how tools like SAP’s CX AI Toolkit and GenAI copilot (Juul) are helping service agents anticipate customer needs, detect anomalies in real-time, and reduce wait times without sacrificing trust or compliance. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj’s flagship’ AI in Business’ podcast! If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Traci Mabrey, General Manager, Factiva at Dow Jones. In this episode, Traci joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to discuss how AI is accelerating research, improving personalization, and reinforcing the role of human expertise in high-stakes decision-making. The conversation explores the growing demand for structured, trustworthy insights across finance, compliance, and global markets — highlighting where automation helps and where human judgment remains essential. For business and data leaders, the episode offers a grounded perspective on how to navigate the balance between speed, scale, and accuracy in today’s information landscape. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj’s flagship’ AI in Business’ podcast! If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Traci Mabrey, General Manager, Factiva at Dow Jones. Factiva is a business information and research tool owned by Dow Jones & Company. It aggregates content from both licensed and free sources, providing organizations with search, alerting, dissemination, and other information management capabilities. Traci joins us on today’s show to discuss how Factiva is combining artificial intelligence with editorial oversight to deliver localized, relevant, and timely business intelligence. She explains how this human-plus-AI approach helps decision-makers navigate today’s complex global markets with greater speed and precision. Traci also highlights the importance of ethical content licensing, transparency in AI outputs, and evolving regulatory considerations as more enterprises embed generative AI into their workflows. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj’s flagship ‘AI in Business’ podcast! If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Jim Palmer, Chief AI Officer at Dialpad, returns to the ‘AI in Financial Services’ podcast to discuss the next evolution in enterprise AI: agentic systems. These autonomous tools promise dramatic changes to how work is done, but only if grounded in real-world applications and use cases. Throughout the episode, Jim outlines how domain-specific data, rigorous back-office testing, and a layered trust framework help organizations move beyond hype cycles. Rather than focusing on full automation, he emphasizes augmentation, enabling human agents with AI-driven coaching, automated assistance, and context-aware insights. Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj’s flagship ‘AI in Business’ podcast!
Today’s guest is Jim Palmer, Chief AI Officer at Dialpad. Dialpad is an AI-powered communication platform offering unified calling, messaging, video conferencing, and customer support. It helps businesses improve team collaboration and productivity through scalable, efficient communication solutions. In this episode, Jim Palmer joins Emerj Managing Editor Matthew DeMello on the show today to discuss the evolution of AI in customer experience. With over 10 years of experience in AI solutions, Jim shares valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities businesses face in implementing human-centric AI. From overcoming disparate systems to measuring AI’s ROI, they dive deep into the practical aspects of AI integration and its impact on customer satisfaction. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Jessica Saperstein, Former CXO and CMO, Strategic Advisor, and Corporate Board Member at Church Mutual. Church Mutual is a leading provider of specialized insurance solutions for religious organizations, educational institutions, senior living communities, and nonprofit organizations. Jessica joins us on today’s program to explore the intersection of CX, digital transformation, and data-driven decision-making. With a career spanning financial services, pharmaceuticals, and travel, she brings a cross-industry perspective on customer-centric innovation. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Arpit Sarin, Vice President of Digital at Regions Bank. Arpit joins us to share insights into the evolving role of AI and data in financial services. Our discussion covers the challenges banks face in adopting AI-driven solutions and scaling them across diverse customer bases and how AI is transforming personalization, customer engagement, and financial advisory services. Arpit provides a deep dive into the intersection of AI, security, and customer-centric innovation, offering practical advice for financial leaders navigating digital transformation. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Sophia Qureshi, VP of Product Management for Fraud Solutions at Provenir. Provenir is a fintech company whose AI decisioning platform helps clients manage credit risk, prevent fraud, and stay compliant across the customer lifecycle. Sophia joins the podcast to discuss the evolving threat landscape and how AI is changing the balance of power. Later, she explains how fraud detection has traditionally relied on deterministic technologies like anomaly detection and how the rise of generative AI has enabled more sophisticated fraud tactics, from deepfake identity forgeries to large-scale phishing campaigns. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Matt Marolda, Chief Innovation Officer at Acrisure. Acrisure is a global insurance broker and fintech financial services provider. Matt returns to the program this week to explore the impact of AI on industry practices, from streamlining workflows to automating customer interactions and enhancing decision-making with predictive analytics. Our discussion examines how AI can process data more efficiently, identifying patterns in customer behavior and refining risk assessments. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Matt Marolda, Chief Innovation Officer at Acrisure. Acrisure is a global insurance broker and fintech financial services provider. Matt joins us on today’s program to explore how AI is revolutionizing personal insurance and home refinancing. In the process, Matt shares insights into the current trends and challenges facing insurance leaders, the role of AI in enhancing customer experience, and how data-driven strategies are helping small and mid-sized businesses streamline operations. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Edward Maslaveckas, CEO and Co-founder of Bud Financial. Bud provides transactional lending analysis and advanced AI solutions for power affordability and credit lifecycle management. Edward returns to the program to talk about use cases across financial services that are going to transform the personal banking space, from back-office services to customer-facing applications. Throughout the episode, Edward talks about what will come easiest to born-digital fintech startups before they will eventually need to gain the trust and proximity to retail banking customers that legacy organizations have. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Edward Maslaveckas, CEO and Co-founder of Bud Financial. Bud provides transactional lending analysis and advanced AI solutions for power affordability and credit lifecycle management. Edward joins us on today’s program to talk about the biggest challenges in driving personal banking experiences, and what the landscape between legacy and fintech organizations might look like given the practicality of adopting large-scale generative AI use cases in different kinds of financial institutions. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Nirmal Ranganathan, Vice President of Engineering and AI at Rackspace Technology. Rackspace, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, is a global cloud computing company with additional offices across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It operates data centers in key locations including Amsterdam, London, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, and various cities in the United States. Nirmal returns to the show to explore the accelerating journey of AI adoption in financial services. Pulling from Rackspace’s recent AI survey, we discuss key findings: 86% of companies report tangible AI benefits, and 60% are transitioning from ideation to early implementation. However, as organizations race to integrate AI, many still face skills gaps, with a majority seeking talent in machine learning and software development. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Navigating the complex world of AI hiring in financial services is no easy feat. In this debut episode, Nirmal Ranganathan, Vice President of Engineering and AI at Rackspace Technology, joins host Matthew DeMello to explore the unique challenges financial services enterprises face when integrating AI talent. With the sector still in its early adoption phase, generative AI’s impact is evident, but leveraging these innovations requires addressing fundamental infrastructure and regulatory hurdles. Throughout the episode, Nirmal shares his insights into the practical applications of generative AI, from enhancing customer-facing operations to transforming back-office workflows. The conversation highlights the essential role of data governance, the impact of AI bias, and the transition smaller financial institutions must make to fully digitize and prepare their data foundations. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Enate Founder and CTO, Kit Cox. Enate makes a comprehensive AI-enhanced business orchestration platform to empower organizations to deliver exceptional services with precision and efficiency. Kit returns to the program to discuss specific use cases that showcase the potential of AI in enhancing customer interactions at critical points in financial services. At the point of sale, AI technologies like sentiment analysis, email triage, and data analysis streamline customer engagement. At the point of need, AI tools play a crucial role in fraud detection, lost card scenarios, and handling complex insurance claims, showing how automation can improve responsiveness and accuracy in high-stakes moments.
Today’s guest is Enate Founder and CTO Kit Cox. Enate makes a comprehensive AI-enhanced business orchestration platform to empower organizations to deliver exceptional services with precision and efficiency. Kit joins us on the program today to unpack the biggest challenges and opportunities in customer relationship management for financial services. From streamlining simple transactions to enhancing complex interactions, Kit reveals to Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello how AI-driven tools are changing how financial leaders communicate and engage with their customers. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Kelly Uphoff, Vice President of Data Science at Tala. Tala is a fintech company that develops an app that lets users bridge digital and cash ecosystems seamlessly to manage their finances. Kelly returns to the program to explore how to drive inclusive leadership in fintech. Pulling from examples at Tala, a company that has built a tech leadership team where 75% of its members are women, Kelly delves into the strategies that create a people-first culture, emphasizing the importance of flexibility, diversity, and leadership modeling. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Kelly Uphoff, Vice President of Data Science at Tala. Tala is a fintech company that develops an app that lets users bridge digital and cash ecosystems seamlessly to manage their finances. Kelly joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s show to discuss how AI and machine learning are driving financial inclusion for underserved populations. Throughout, she explains how Tala leverages alternative data to expand access to credit for individuals shut out of traditional financial systems. Kelly also shares how Tala’s use of proprietary data and advanced AI tools, such as large language models (LLMs), is helping to identify creditworthiness in customers historically overlooked by legacy financial institutions. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Supriya Gupta, General Manager and Vice President of Product at Credit Karma. Credit Karma is a multinational personal finance brand under Intuit that makes products free to consumers and helps them find lenders. Supriya returns to this podcast, straight from her appearance on the AI in Business podcast, to explore the evolving role of personalization and AI in credit workflows. She dives into how Credit Karma is laying the foundation for autonomous finance, a concept aimed at minimizing human intervention in financial decision-making. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is David Thompson, Chief Technology Officer at American Express Global Business Travel. American Express Global Business Travel – better known as Amex GBT and officially known as Global Business Travel Group, Inc. – is a multinational travel management company based in New York City. Employing 18,000 people across over 140 countries, Amex GBT operates independently from American Express, which maintains a minority interest in the company. David returns to the platform to discuss the complexities and opportunities of deploying AI in B2B workflows and industries. As AI becomes a cornerstone of digital transformation, B2B companies are navigating unique challenges in integrating these technologies into their products and services while maintaining high standards of security and compliance. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today's guest is Swami Jayaraman, Senior Vice President and Chief Enterprise Architect at Iron Mountain. Iron Mountain is a publicly traded global leader in storage and information management services trusted by over 240,000 organizations worldwide, including 90% of the Fortune 1000 for over 70 years. Swami returns to the program to talk about use cases in risk management, cybersecurity, and customer experience in financial services spaces – and what they can tell financial leaders about the concrete abilities of AI to unlock efficiencies in these areas. Together with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Swami overviews how AI can analyze ID documents, monitor loan agreements, and automate regulatory reporting. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today's guest is Swami Jayaraman, Senior Vice President and Chief Enterprise Architect at Iron Mountain. Iron Mountain is a publicly traded global leader in storage and information management services trusted by over 240,000 organizations worldwide, including 90% of the Fortune 1000. Swami joins us on today's show to talk about risk management challenges in financial services, including cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, people and culture, technology adoption, and data management. Later, we explore AI's impact on customer experience and compliance workflows in ways that are helping financial leaders surmount these challenges. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is German Soto-Sanchez, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Broadridge Financial Solutions. Broadridge is an S&P 500 global fintech leader with $6 billion in revenue and ranked #3 in the 2023 IDC FinTech Rankings Top 100. The firm manages trades, supporting communications reaching 75% of North American households and shareholder voting in 120 countries. German returns to the program today to offer advice for financial leaders on driving digital transformation at their organizations. His appearance emphasizes the importance of understanding AI technology before implementing it in an enterprise-wide program. He argues that experimenting with blockchain technology allows financial leaders to gain hands-on experience and constructive conversations within the ecosystem. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is German Soto-Sanchez, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Broadridge Financial Solutions. Broadridge is an S&P 500 global fintech leader with $6 billion in revenue and ranked #3 in the 2023 IDC FinTech Rankings Top 100. The firm manages trades, supporting communications reaching 75% of North American households and shareholder voting in 120 countries. German joins us on the program today to discuss how AI can help drive strategy for financial services organizations in light of evolving customer expectations. Throughout the episode, German cites examples of untapped data and opportunities for efficiency gains, emphasizing the importance of documenting legacy systems and technologies to ensure continuity and modernization. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Prasanna Dhore, Chief Data Officer at Fiserv and President of Data Commerce Solutions. Prasanna returns to the Emerj podcast platform, following his appearance earlier this month on the ‘AI in Business’ podcast, to talk about findings from the latest edition of Fiserv’s Small Business Index, derived from point-of-sale transaction data across approximately 2 million U.S. small businesses, providing a direct measure of consumer spending and business performance. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Craig Mackereth, Executive Vice President of Global Service Delivery at Rimini Street. Rimini Street is a publicly traded company specializing in third-party support for mission-critical systems at financial services organizations and beyond. Craig returns to the program today to discuss the best strategies for driving AI and ML investments across the financial services enterprise. Throughout the episode, Craig points to significant use cases that demonstrate the unique differences between deterministic and generative AI capabilities, the business problems they solve for financial leaders, and the infrastructure needed to ensure ROI. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Manish Goyal, Operating Partner at Berkshire Partners. Berkshire Partners is a Boston-based private equity firm with substantial experience and investments in consumer products and retail, business services, communications, industrials, and healthcare sectors. Manish returns to the show today to tell us what AI is looking like from the portfolio perspective. Armed with insights from across Berkshire’s austere roster, Manish details how industries across the global economy are seeing AI adoption in productivity and efficiency, with a 20-30% code generation increase and improved customer service. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Andrew Beddoes, Business Consultant at Provenir. Provenir is a software company that develops an AI-powered credit risk decisioning platform. Andrew joins us on today’s show to talk about leveraging data and generative AI to find insights into consumer behavior data surrounding collections workflows. Throughout the episode, Andrew cites use cases that exemplify how mining such data results in better consumer relationships and more reliable revenue streams. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Andrew Beddoes, Business Consultant at Provenir. Provenir is a software company that develops an AI-powered credit risk decisioning platform. Andrew joins us on today’s show to talk about AI’s impact on collections workflows from the perspective of auto loans. Throughout the episode, Andrew emphasizes the importance of using data and technology to improve customer experiences and drive empathy among loan collectors. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Manish Goyal, Operating Partner at Berkshire Partners. Berkshire Partners is a Boston-based private equity firm with substantial experience and investments in consumer products and retail, business services, communications, industrials, and healthcare sectors. Manish joins us on today’s show to discuss the unique challenges private equity leaders face in deploying AI at their organizations, particularly in automating tasks and improving decision-making. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Darren Humphries, Group Chief Information Security Officer and Chief Technology Officer Partner at Acora. Acora is a UK-based, award-winning provider of managed, consultancy, and professional services in information technology and security across many industrial sectors. Darren returns to the podcast to discuss the relationship between IT and cybersecurity enterprise functions at the heart of AI’s impact in the financial services space. Later, he explains what financial leaders, in particular, should keep in mind when driving to level-up their operations when it comes to cybersecurity and other anomaly-detection based functions (AML, fraud detection). If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Darren Humphries, Group Chief Information Security Officer and Chief Technology Officer Partner at Acora. Acora is a UK-based, award-winning provider of managed, consultancy, and professional services in information technology and security across many industrial sectors. Darren joins us on today’s show to discuss new opportunities for financial services leaders to drive the IT and infrastructure necessary to ensure the lowest possible risk, especially when it comes to AML, fraud, and cybersecurity workflows. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Jason Walker, Chief Innovation Officer at BigPanda. BigPanda is a California-based software developer whose AIOps-powered platform helps businesses improve their service support and incident management systems. Jason returns to the platform to talk about the future of IT for financial services, given the potential of new generative AI capabilities that are helping streamline data and hardware management workflows. Later, he and Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello examine what AIOps will mean for IT teams and initiatives going forward. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Jason Walker, Chief Innovation Officer at BigPanda. BigPanda is a California-based software developer whose AIOps-powered platform helps businesses improve their service support and incident management systems. Jason joins us on this week’s podcast to discuss what financial leaders need to know to drive the IT infrastructure necessary to take advantage of new, emerging, data-heavy use cases we’re seeing in generative AI. Later, he and Senior Editor Matthew DeMello discuss GenAI tools that can help streamline IT workflows. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Andrew Sellers, Head of Technology Strategy at Confluent. Previously, he served as Chief Technology Officer at QOMPLX, a high-growth startup in cyber-risk analytics, and as a Senior Cyberspace Operations Officer, CTO, and Assistant Professor of Computer Science in the United States Air Force. Andrew returns to the platform alongside Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello to delve into the upcoming democratization of data and what it means for AI adoption initiatives at financial institutions. Andrew shares strategic insights for business leaders seeking executive buy-in to capitalize on the burgeoning wealth of information. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Andrew Sellers, Head of Technology Strategy at Confluent. Previously, he served as Chief Technology Officer at QOMPLX, a high-growth startup in cyber-risk analytics, and as a Senior Cyberspace Operations Officer, CTO, and Assistant Professor of Computer Science in the United States Air Force. Andrew joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s podcast to talk about the high costs and tight budgets of IT. Throughout his appearance, Andrew offers advice on balancing ROI goals with the typical pitfalls of false start pilot initiatives. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Ivan Edwards, Vice President of Customer Interactions at Cadence Bank. Before his time at Cadence, Ivan served as Contact Center Manager and Assistant Vice President at Wells Fargo. Ivan joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on today’s show to discuss changing trends in online banking and customer interactions that have arisen in the post-pandemic financial services landscape. Together, they pull apart data showing new customer behaviors in different segments and demographics, and take a critical look at how banks can foster more intimate relationships with their customers. This episode is sponsored by Uniphore. To learn more about Emerj Media and how to reach the Emerj audience, visit emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Priyank Patel, SVP and Director of Financial Crimes Risk Surveillance at KeyBank. Priyank joins us on today’s program to talk about how the fight against false signals in AML workflows is entering a whole new dimension given the democratization of data and new generative AI tools. Throughout the episode, Priyank offers financial leaders sound advice on where to leverage existing technologies and data sources to transform workflows in these areas and beyond. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Fabrizio Burlando, Global Head of Advisors Consulting and Digital Labs at Mastercard. Previous to Mastercard, Fabrizio also served as a project leader at Boston Consulting Group and as a Senior Consultant for the United Nations. Fabrizio joins us on this program following his recent appearance on the ‘AI in Business’ podcast to talk about new opportunities for SMBs in generative AI and the best strategies they can deploy to prepare their organizations for adoption. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guests are Troy Pospisil, Founder and CEO of Ontra, and Eric Hawkins, SVP of Engineering. Ontra is an AI-driven tech company that develops contract management and other legal solutions for organizations across financial services with a strong presence in private markets. Troy returns to the program with Eric to explain the specific benefits of new emerging generative AI tools on document processing, legal workflows and the private equity space more broadly. Together, they provide financial leaders with keen insight into how to manage these business activities going forward as generative AI tools become more commonplace throughout the global economy. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Troy Pospisil, Founder and CEO of Ontra. Ontra is an AI-driven tech company that develops contract management and other legal solutions for organizations across financial services with a strong presence in private markets. Troy joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s show to discuss model development for legal workflows and what financial leaders need to know about the process to properly leverage new generative AI capabilities in these sectors. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Ted Kwartler, Field CTO of Generative AI for DataRobot. DataRobot is an AI-powered software company that helps enterprises automate processes from end to end. In conversation with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella, Ted gives a broader view of the data governance process for financial services. Throughout the episode, Ted offers financial leaders alternatives to popular approaches in Centers of Excellence in the form of data science professional resources groups that can better facilitate collaboration across the enterprise. Later, he explains where financial services organizations often make mistakes in scaling data management operations and how they can course correct before it’s too late. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Marco Argenti, Chief Information Officer at Goldman Sachs. Before working with Goldman Sachs, Marco served as SVP of Developer Services at Nokia, then Vice President of Technology of Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2013, where he started and ran several AWS businesses, including mobile, serverless computing, Internet of Things, and augmented and virtual reality. Following his appearance on our sister podcast, Marco surveys emerging use cases in new generative AI capabilities for financial services. He offers his vision for what the industry will look like when these technologies become commonplace. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Bhaskar Kalita, Global Head of Financial Services and Insurance at Quantiphi. Quantiphi is an AI-first digital engineering company that designs AI-driven services and platforms for broad applications across industries. In conversation with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella, Bhaskar pulls apart what new generative AI capabilities will mean for the entire BFSI sector. In his words, the opportunities mean nothing less than the democratization of - not just digital products - but direct conversations between banking professionals, with requisite systems becoming more uniform in the process. This episode is sponsored by Quantiphi. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Bill Waid, Chief Product and Technology Officer at FICO. Bill has been with FICO for over 20 years, developing Decision Management systems. Prior to his time at FICO, Bill worked for different software platforms in sales and systems engineering. He returns to the program today to talk about the challenges in winning executive buy-in for data governance projects, how this can help finserv teams level up the infrastructure necessary for transformative AI use cases and the role decision management plays throughout the process.
Today’s guest is Bill Waid, Chief Product and Technology Officer at FICO. Bill has been with FICO for over 20 years, developing Decision Management systems. Prior to his time at FICO, Bill worked for different software platforms in sales and systems engineering. He joins us on today’s program to talk about what challenges for financial services leaders look like from a data perspective. Throughout the episode, he offers advice and strategies on how to level up data governance operations at their organizations. Visit emerj.com/beg1 to learn more about the practical steps for AI deployment for non-technical professionals.
Today’s guest is Adam Nahari, Vice President of Data and Analytics at Berkshire Partners. Berkshire Partners is a Boston-based private equity firm with substantial experience and investments in consumer products and retail, business services, communications, industrials and healthcare sectors. Adam returns to the program to talk about the difference between predictive analytics and new emerging generative AI tools in private equity workflows, and where these technologies stand to take the industry into the future. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Louis Tetu, CEO of Coveo. Coveo is a tech company that develops Saas enterprise search solutions powered by AI. Louis joins us on today’s program to talk about the importance of employee journeys in enhancing customer journeys and how new emerging AI capabilities - especially in co-pilot software powered by generative AI - are helping sync their workflows. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Adam Nahari, Vice President of Data and Analytics at Berkshire Partners. Berkshire Partners is a Boston-based private equity firm with substantial experience and investments in the consumer products, retail, business services, communications, industrials and healthcare sectors. Adam joins Emerj Senior Editor to talk about the challenges currently facing private equity firms and how emerging new AI capabilities – particularly in the generative space – stand to change the very work and information flows behind major investments. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today's guest is Adrien Gabeur, Vice President of Cloud at Sinequa. Sinequa is a software company that builds an enterprise search platform for financial services firms, but they didn't always used to be in the SaaS space. Adrien joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella from Paris to talk about Sinequa's transition from self-managing multiple products to a single product platform for their customers. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guests are Dr. Stefan Sigg and Steffen Lorenz, Chief Product Officer and Business and Insurance Leader for Software AG, respectively. Software AG is a multinational software developer based in Germany that assists companies in business process management, integration, and big data analytics. They return to the program today to discuss how essential APIs are in giving customers access to an organization’s knowledge base and making it easier for IT departments to meet CX challenges. If you’re interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for AI consultants, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Bala Kumar, Chief Product Officer at Jumio. Jumio is a financial services company that provides card and ID scanning and validation products for mobile and web transactions, which they describe as “Netverify Trusted Identity as a Service.” Bala returns to the program to discuss the challenges of KYC compliance, especially now that we’re seeing more large language models and generative AI used in onboarding workflows. Later, he espouses the benefits of ‘front-door verification’ in terms of maximizing scrutiny on the moment a customer first touches a service funnel. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Eric Crowley, partner at GP Bullhound. GP Bullhound is an investment bank and venture capital fund with 11 offices in the US and Europe. Eric leads the firm’s Consumer Subscription Software (“CSS”) practice while executing transactions for growth-stage technology companies. In addition to CSS, Eric has advised on transactions in the Ad-tech, Software and Digital Services, and Fintech industries. He joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on the program to discuss the promise of generative AI in financial services and how businesses leveraging AI can better prepare for conversations with investors. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Christopher Phillips, Senior Vice President and Director of AML at Valley Bank. Valley Bank is a regional bank holding company based in New Jersey with nearly $2 billion in annual revenue. He joins us on the program today to reflect on his experience leveling up Valley’s AML operations amid the bank’s overall digital transformation process. Throughout the episode, Christopher talks about streamlining and automating aspects of the investigation process and where robotic process automation makes a difference versus other AI-adjacent technologies. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guests are Dr. Stefan Sigg and Steffen Lorenz, Chief Product Officer and Business and Insurance Leader for Software AG, respectively. Software AG is a multinational software developer based in Germany that assists companies in business process management, integration, and big data analytics. The pair join us on today’s program to discuss the importance of an integrated approach to data for ensuring IT departments can meet the increased demand from consumer expectations in financial services.
Today’s guest is Bala Kumar, Chief Product Officer at Jumio. Jumio is a financial services company that provides card and ID scanning and validation products for mobile and web transactions, which they describe as “Netverify Trusted Identity as a Service.” Bala joins us on today’s program to talk about how compliance in financial services is changing thanks to the influx of new capabilities in generative AI and large language models. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today's guest is Mike Murchison, CEO of Ada. Ada specializes in automating communications channels to support and enhance customer experience operations for financial services firms. With Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Mike returns to the program to talk about how automating and synchronizing employee and customer-preferred communications channels through AI tools like large language models enhances customer experiences in financial services. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Zac Maufe, Head of Regulated Industries at Google Cloud. He joins us on today’s show to talk about the challenges facing banking leaders in moving to the cloud, winning executive buy-in for new approaches to talent acquisition in data, and why competition in customer experience proves that financial services remain a “relationship business.” To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Jeff DeVerter, Chief Technology Evangelist of Rackspace Technology. Rackspace is a public cloud computing company with over $3 billion in annual revenue based outside of San Antonio, Texas. Jeff joins us on the program to discuss the challenges facing financial services organizations when it comes to updating tech infrastructure, the advantages of cloud technology, and why so many firms find themselves stuck amid their digital transformations. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Ada CEO, Mike Murchison. Ada is an AI-powered customer service automation platform based in Toronto. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Mike explains what he sees as the most significant shift in financial services CX workflows since the dawn of the AI age: moving from avoiding customer interactions to craving them. He tells us how financial institutions can better suit themselves for the transition, given the constant tumult of AI news and technological developments. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Cresta Director of Customer Value, Christopher Reese. Cresta is a tech company specializing in building custom AI-enhanced call center solutions. Christopher joins us on the program today to discuss the unique challenges facing the collections space – from compliance and high turnover to the painstaking work of negotiations. Later, they explore use cases demonstrating how new technologies are helping human agents elicit more empathy. This episode is sponsored by Cresta. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Muddu Sudhakar, CEO of Aisera - a conversational AI platform that automates and synchronizes workflows across the organization. He joins us to discuss the most promising use cases he sees among large language models in the financial services sector. In working with companies across industries to de-silo departments, tech stacks, and workflows through conversational AI - Muddu is particularly well positioned to judge which are rising to the top across banks, investment, insurance firms, and beyond. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Eran Ashkenazi, Chief Customer Officer at SentinelOne. SentinelOne is a public US-based cybersecurity company founded in 2013 that uses machine learning to gain deeper insight into how organizations use information technology. Eran joins us to discuss enhancing customer journeys in cybersecurity amid an emerging era of generative AI tools in financial services. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Michael Walrath, CEO of Yext. Yext is a unicorn startup with a $2 billion market cap achieved in 2021 and over $300 million yearly revenue. Michael joins us on the program today to talk about the ongoing impact of large language models (LLMs) and knowledge graphs on financial services from the standpoint of marketing and search. Throughout, he and Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello unpack customer experience challenges from hallucinations to best data organization practices for leveraging these emerging technologies. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Checkout.com Chief Risk Officer Ido Lustig. He joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on the program to talk about challenges in addressing fraud without false positives, where this gets murkier in places like cross-border transactions. Later, they discuss how these problems look from a data-based standpoint regarding classification and severity. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Credit Karma Vice President and Core Team General Manager Supriya Gupta. Credit Karma is a multinational personal finance brand under Intuit that makes products free to consumers that help them find lenders. Supriya returns to the show today to discuss the rise of personalization data in financial services and how this will change the relationship between consumers and their personal finances. Along the way, Supriya advises financial services leaders about the best ways to take advantage of the influx of data. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is the Director of Product Management, Accounting ＆Tax at Intuit, Michael Hitchcock. Michael returns to the program to talk about the impact AI will have on accounting workflows, how it will fundamentally change accounting as a profession, and what this is looking like from his position at one of the leading personal financial services brands. Together with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Michael discusses applicable Quickbooks use cases and the criteria they use to identify “ground truth” in personalization metrics. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Thoughtworks Chief Technology Officer Rebecca Parsons. ThoughtWorks is a publicly owned global technology company operating in 18 countries, providing software design and delivery tools and consulting services to clients like Google and Microsoft. Together with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Rebecca explores how financial services challenges look from the vantage point of data scientists at the onset of emergence in use cases for large language models. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Strategic Advisor for Dataiku, Kurt Muehmel. Dataiku is an AI and machine learning company with over $4.6 billion in funding. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Kurt dissects the business challenges driving trends that are described as the “broad democratization” of data in financial services and other surrounding sectors. Later, they take a closer look at how businesses will navigate the transitions therein from both cultural and technical standpoints. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Credit Karma Vice President and Core Team General Manager Supriya Gupta. Credit Karma is a multinational personal finance brand under Intuit that makes products free to consumers that help them find lenders. Supriya joins us on today’s episode to talk about the future of autonomous workflows in financial services – for both the consumer and the organization. Together with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Supriya pulls apart what this means for both how consumers relate to lenders and how finserv organizations can find efficiencies in their own operations.
Today's guests are WorkFusion VP, Head of AI Paul Tepper, and VP of Product Management Tina Chace. WorkFusion is a software company with over $340 million in funding that blends RPA and AI – a process often called intelligent automation – to help businesses digitize their operations. Paul and Tina return to the platform to discuss the applicability of intelligent automation in financial service-driven use cases from media surveillance and customer experience. Together with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, they examine how cutting-edge capabilities in these spaces are refocusing business problems around topics and how they're discussed both outside and inside the organization. This episode is sponsored by WorkFusion. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Intuit Director of Product Management, Accounting ＆ Tax, Michael Hitchcock. Michael’s experience in product development and engineering goes back to his days at GE in the mid-2000s. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Michael overviews the challenges facing both entrepreneurs and accountants in bookkeeping workflows and the ways Quickbooks and other Intuit services have integrated AI capabilities in their platforms to meet those needs. Later, they pull apart the ways AI is personalizing processes and changing the fundamental nature of accounting work.
Today’s guest is Scott Zoldi, Chief Analytics Officer of FICO. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Scott digs deeper into his writings on the many well-publicized disadvantages of ChatGPT and a few of its under-discussed benefits. Under the backdrop of FICO’s recent report on responsible AI in the financial services space, Scott helps pull apart some promising financial use cases for the technology and cast them under a more sober, discerning spotlight. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today's guest is Fiddler AI CEO, Krishna Gade. Fiddler AI builds custom monitoring platforms specializing in risk and compliance as well as the lending and trading spaces. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Krishna discusses why machine learning, in particular, is so effective in streamlining surveillance workflows and why financial services compliance is increasingly being geared toward verifying the customer from their introduction to the services funnel. Krishna also talks about the various 'black box' problems in financial services and how his previous experience working on the Facebook newsfeed after the 2016 election informs Fiddler's approach to model transparency. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest on the ‘AI in Financial Services’ podcast is Dr. Lori Cenci, US Head of Unauthorized Trade Surveillance at HSBC and Lecturer of Applied Analytics at Columbia University School of Professional Studies. She has over two decades of experience in risk, compliance, conduct, capital markets, quantitative research, product development, client advisory, consulting, writing, and teaching with such austere financial services brands as HSBC. Dr. Cenci returns to the platform to discuss the challenges in developing a company culture built around analytics. Together with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella, she pulls from experiences across her career to advise on best practices for managing the c-suite and developing dashboards that solve real business problems.
Today’s guest is Managing Director at Curinos Sarah Welch. Curinos is a software company specializing in data-based solutions for financial services enterprises. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Sarah discusses how the same AI capabilities banking leaders might be familiar with across customer experience use cases are illuminating business opportunities and solving challenges in the onboarding process. As a greater image of customers and what makes them loyal emerges, Sarah explains how new questions arise from the data, including, “When is marketing’s job done?”. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Supreet Kaur, Assistant Vice President at Morgan Stanley. She’s spent the last five years working in data spaces across financial services and life sciences, along with essential advocacy work in mentoring a diverse next generation of data science leaders. In conversation with Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella, Supreet explains to the audience what works and what doesn’t in building effective data governance infrastructure and strategies for financial services organizations. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is the Head of Strategy, Private Banking & Wealth at InvestCloud, Alessandro Tonchia. InvestCloud is an AI-driven communications platform for wealth managers. Before starting there in 2021, Alessandro worked as a Director for smartKYC in London for nearly a decade and founded the digital insurance platform Finatix in the early nineties. On the AI in Financial Services podcast, Alessandro describes the challenges that wealth managers face in providing fully customizable interfacing experiences and visualizations with their clients. He also details InvestCloud’s strategies in developing platforms with a hierarchy between both financial advisors and clients as users. To access Emerj’s non-technical guide for getting started with AI deployment, check out emerj.com/beg1.
Today's guest is Martín Ramírez, Head of Growth at WellSaid, a company specializing in AI-driven voice-over tools. There are surprising use cases for these capabilities across various industries. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on the 'AI in Financial Services' services podcast, Martín focuses on enterprise applications. From learning and training to supplementing conversational AI, Martín describes what is necessary to return enterprise-wide results from truly transformational use cases. Later, they discuss ways that information must transition from print to digital and, in an increasing number of multimedia workflows, from digital to audio. This episode is sponsored by WellSaid Labs. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Qraft Technologies APAC CEO, Francis Geeseok Oh. Qraft is an emerging invest tech AI solution for investment risk management. Those in the investment space, from retail to big-name Wall Street firms, might have some familiarity with Qraft’s AI Risk Indicator Tool. On their website, the AI-powered platform gives an instantaneous reading on the risk within a market during a given period, all with the fluidity of checking a mobile weather app. On the ‘AI in Financial Services’ podcast, he and Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello discuss overcoming the block box issues therein and where the human element is best delegated in risk management workflows, given the advantages of AI capabilities in these spaces. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today's guest is the CEO of Catchlight Insights, Wilbur Swan. Catchlight is a Fidelity-backed and grown AI solution streamlining lead optimization for small and medium-sized financial institutions with a special focus on custom tools built for individual personal financial advisors and realtors. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Wilbur discusses strategies in data visualization and avoiding the all-or-nothing thinking that comes with developing dashboards that show "everything under one umbrella." Later, they pull apart use cases showing the difference AI is making in both individual and institutional lead optimization workflows. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today's guest is Vic.ai Co-founder and CEO Alexander Hagerup. Vic.ai is a software as a service that offers full autonomy in accounting workflows, specifically in invoice processing and helping to streamline approval processes in a broad range of financial services sectors. In conversation with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, Alexander explains what AI autonomy can look like and what it takes to remove human beings from the decision-making process in accounting. Later, he pulls apart a number of applicable use cases in the real estate and fintech startup space. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today's guest is Christian Van Leeuwen, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of FRISS. His company accrued over $88 million to fund a workforce of 200 employees focused on claims underwriting, investigation, and working with the biggest names in the insurance space. Following his last appearance on the AI in Business podcast, he and Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello pull apart use cases in trust automation. Their conversation reveals how much the insurance space is beginning to resemble banking in terms of the increasing importance of knowing who your customer is from the front door of the insurance policy lifecycle. Plus, how AI is illuminating new business opportunities in commercial insurance given the influx of data emerging from the internet of things. This episode is brought to you by FRISS. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Today’s guest is Kelly Harlin, Director of Solutions Marketing and Commercialization at Sharp NEC. As a manufacturer of computer monitors and large-scale information displays and systems, Sharp NEC has a front row to how banks collect data - particularly visual - to better ascertain the lifestyle needs of their customers. Why is this information so important to banks? Kelly explains to Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella that the pandemic had a devastating impact on foot traffic to banking branches. There’s been some recovery, but now banks are more interested than ever in knowing why people need their physical branches and how to complement their needs best with digital services. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI and strategy, visit Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Pecan AI CEO and co-founder Dr. Zohar Bronfman. Pecan produces an AI-driven platform designed to drive business value using predictive analytics and proprietary model scoring. In conversation with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella, Zohar discusses how insurers can use machine learning capabilities to find up- and cross-selling opportunities throughout the episode. Zohar points to particularly actionable steps for business leaders in insurance adjacent spaces in developing scoring optimization systems for upgrading policies, targeting high net-worth customers, and reframing business needs into predictive questions. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Pardeep Bassi, Global Proposition Leader of Data Science at Willis Towers Watson. He’s also spent the last decade in data science leadership roles for insurance firms. Pardeep returns to the Emerj podcast platform to talk about a rising inflection point with old insurers who have data but don’t know how to use it and startups that don’t have data but are more agile in deploying AI solutions. He and Emerj Head of Research Daniel Faggella also discuss how insurance firms – particularly legacy institutions - can go beyond automation and predictive insights, using AI to find the right questions to ask to understand customers’ risk better. For access to Emerj’s Executive Cheat Sheet on AI in insurance, check out emerj.com/ins1.
Today’s guest is Jay Budzik, Chief Technology Officer of Zest AI. What are the best ways to measure ROI for an early AI project? There are countless ways to answer the question, as virtually every organization working in AI finds the process challenging. Yet Jay and Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella pull apart what it means when the value of differing metrics changes and the best ways to find a proxy. Later, they discuss how best to prepare early AI adoption initiatives before they begin and what “strategic value” means outside immature expectations of financial returns in the first few months. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Today’s guest is Jackson Hull. At the time of recording this interview, Jackson was the COO of OakNorth, but he now serves as the CEO of Elliptic. OakNorth is a financial services unicorn company based in the United Kingdom. In this episode, we explore a topic that is very pertinent to Jackson’s former role: assessing the health of your loan portfolio. Understanding your loan portfolio’s health is an essential skill for executives in the finserv industry, but right now, it is a sticky business and might be a place where artificial intelligence can add value. Jackson provides a high-level strategic perspective on the business and discusses an interesting use-case. To access Emerj’s non-technical guide for getting started with AI deployment, check out emerj.com/beg1.
This week’s guest is Sankar Narayanan, Chief Practice Officer at Fractal. Fractal is a unicorn company focusing on services and solutions in various industries, including financial services. In this episode, we unpack what the post-covid world looks like from a priorities standpoint for financial services leaders. Sankar shares perspectives from across the organizations they’re serving at Fractal and what he’s seeing amongst leaders in the financial services industries. He also addresses questions of funding, more or less critical problems in the industry, where AI might add value, and more. Discover more AI use-cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more - join Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Nirupam Sarkar, VP of Data Science at Fidelity Investments, a legacy financial institution that presides over about $4.5 trillion in assets under management. In today’s episode, Nirupam discusses two workflows with broad applications across regulation-heavy industries. He also details use-cases involving summarization in wealth management and categorization in mutual funds. Nirupam also shares his thoughts on the future of leveraging and framing information to the essentials of decision-making at the highest levels of wealth management. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from the insights in this episode, consider leaving a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
Our guest on today's episode of the AI in Financial Services podcast is Managing Director for Render at Fintern Jonathan Mascie-Taylor. Jonathan and Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella discuss his experience in product launches and how lenders, in particular, can approach AI adoption to enhance the process. Jonathan also explains in-depth strategies for identifying main value propositions and turning lenders into B2b sales. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI and strategy, visit Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1.
In today’s episode, we’re talking about becoming data-driven in financial services. Our guest is Tanvi Singh. At the time of this recording, she was wrapping up nearly eight years with Credit Suisse, most recently as Managing Director of Digital Transformation and Product Labs. She is now the Group Head of the ADA Foundations Hub at UBS. There are two critical takeaways from this episode. The first is a view of the world of data and the future of financial services where data can be leveraged for AI value, drive value for customers, and operational efficiencies. The second half of the episode is about building that robust data mesh and becoming data-driven in a way that also sees a near-term value. Tanvi paints a picture of how to bear both near-team value and long-term value in mind and the long lumbering path from where banks are today to a place of real digital fluency.
Today we are discussing the topic of anti-money laundering, a primary regulatory concern for financial services organizations. Our guest is Dr. Scott Nowson, Artificial Intelligence Leader at PwC. PwC is one of the largest financial services companies in the world. In this episode, Scott dives in on reducing false positives for anti-money laundering. Whether you’re focused on cyber security, payment fraud, or financial crime, the work of analysts is primarily looking at elements that inherently don’t have any risks. They have to dig through things like our transactions and online activity to identify cases that represent a financial and regulatory risk. Scott emphasizes how artificial intelligence impacts the analytics experience before and after. To access Emerj’s frameworks for AI readiness, ROI and strategy, visit Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Stefan Boronea, CTO of Proportunity. Proportunity is a London-based firm focused on home lending and the future of finance. The topic of this episode is the future of lending and extending credit risk for lenders. In this interview, Stefan discusses the current trends in credit lending and where the gaps might be filled in with AI and data in the years ahead. Stefan also joined us on The AI in Business Podcast about three weeks ago, where he discussed the valuation of homes and several related use-cases in depth. If you’d like to listen to Stefan’s other episode and check out more insights from hundreds of business leaders, be sure to subscribe to The AI in Business Podcast on your preferred podcast platform.
Today’s guest is Julien Cerutti, Vice President for Sales & Client Success, Enterprise Americas at Meltwater. Meltwater is a financial services company that focuses on drawing insights from outside data sources from various sources. Our focus this week is the topic of unlocking the power of external data. In this episode, Julien discusses a particular use-case that will be relevant in areas like wealth management as well as other business functions such as brand management, improving customer service, and more. Our conversation with Julien was recorded about a year ago, and while the market may have changed a bit since then, his insights are certainly relevant for business leaders navigating the industry today. If you’d like to discover critical AI applications and trends, be sure to download our whitepaper “3 Ways to Discover AI Trends” at emerj.com/t3.
This week’s guest is Brett Beranek, Vice-President & General Manager of Security & Biometrics Line of Business at Nuance Communications. In today’s episode, Brett speaks with us about the fraud-related trends in the financial services industry as a result of COVID and some of the concrete use-cases we could consider to address them moving forward. He first speaks specifically about the industry trends related to fraud and paints a picture of how fraud is shifting at a high level before diving into a concrete use-case more deeply. To learn more about the methods for finding AI trends that will allow you to stay ahead of the curve, download our whitepaper “3 Ways to Discover AI Trends” at emerj.com/t3.
Our guest this week is Ian Wilson. As one of our first ever guests on this podcast more than two years ago, Ian is the former Head of AI at HSBC, one of the largest financial institutions in the world. He now leads Strategy 4 AI, a strategy and education firm based in the United Kingdom. Ian speaks with us about how legacy software providers are starting to level up their software solutions with new AI features in this episode. He also provides some practical advice for selecting AI vendors and some surprising insights into the AI adoption trends that he sees in the enterprise. Be sure to download our whitepaper “AI in Banking: Executive Cheat Sheet” at emerj.com/cs1 to learn how to identify more critical trends in the industry.
Our guest this week is Sunil Tahilramani, Head of Artificial Intelligence at UiPath. With nearly a decade of experience in AI roles at Microsoft, Sunil has been with UiParth for almost two years now. In this episode, Sunil speaks about a particular use-case for RPA and artificial intelligence around routing email messages to clients. Specifically, he discusses the right combination of RPA and AI looks like to streamline and automate customer service workflows. If you've enjoyed or benefited from the insights in this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and let us know what you learned or liked most about this show or what you'd like to see in the future.
This week’s guest is Jay Budzik, CTO of Zest AI. In this episode, Jay discusses the topic of AI accessibility and the scalability process. Zest AI is a firm in the lending space that helps train algorithms to detect risk and determine approvals or terms for different lending products for all types of lenders, from gigantic financial institutions down to credit unions. If you’re interested in knowing more AI use-cases and finding new ways for AI to streamline or automate some of your own strategies, be sure to download our free AI in Financial Services Executive Brief at emerj.com/fs1.
Our guest this week is Greg Council, Vice President of Marketing and Product Management at Parascript. Parascript is an AI vendor in the financial services space focusing on applications in document search and discovery and other kinds of NLP-oriented processes. In this episode, Greg gives an in-depth description of the manual methods to cash a check, including what banks and financial institutions have to do to process checks and where artificial intelligence fits into the workflow. If you’d like to discover more AI use-cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.
This week’s guest is Greg Council, VP of Product Management at Parascript. In this episode, Greg discusses the topic of where artificial intelligence can find its fit and start to automate the various paperwork-heavy workflows within the process of lending. He also discusses where Parascript is finding its fit for AI in the lending workflow and describes the workflows as they are today, what human beings are doing in terms of the paperwork in the back office of lending, and where artificial intelligence fits directly into those workflows. Learn more about how to identify and capitalize on the key trends of AI in banking at emerj.com/cs1.
This week’s guest is Ilan Gleiser, Founder and CEO of Synarchy AI, an AI consultancy based in the Bay Area. Ilan has worked with large organizations, including a role as Product Owner for Artificial Intelligence Enterprise Solutions at Wells Fargo, the third-largest bank in the U.S. In this episode, Ilan explains his process for filtering projects based on criteria like the potential return on investment and risk involved to help determine which projects are the most realistic to start with. Ilan also speaks about how he was inspired by some of our frameworks and added his own layer of trust and risk assessment to models. Download our whitepaper “Beginning with AI” at emerj.com/beg1.
This week's guest is Ilan Gleiser, Founder and CEO of Synarchy AI, an AI consultancy firm based in the Bay area. Ilan has a lot of hands-on experience with large enterprises, including work as Product Owner for AI Enterprise Solutions at Wells Fargo, one of the world's largest financial services firms. Today, Ilan discusses AI maturity and how to assess a specific business's skills, culture, and data resources. He also shares the tools he uses to determine potential projects for companies ready to move forward with AI deployment. Ilan is an Emerj subscriber and Emerj Plus Member, and he references some of our frameworks in this episode. To discover more AI use-cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Christophe Makni, Managing Consultant for Lean AI and Automation at Basler Kantonalbank in Basel, Switzerland. Today, Christophe speaks about his processes for thinking about and identifying opportunities for automation in the Financial Services space. Christophe is also a valued Emerj Plus member. If you would like to learn more about how to join business leaders like Christophe around the world using our AI use-cases, whitepapers, and best practice frameworks in their work leading AI change, visit emerj.com/p1.
Today’s guest is Nick Elprin, CEO and Co-Founder of Domino Data Lab, an enterprise data science management platform. Domino has raised over $100M to date. Nick previously served as Senior Application Technologist at Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund in the world. In today’s episode, Nick shares his definition of a platform in the proper sense and speaks about the place and purpose of AI platforms. He also discusses why an enterprise would choose a platform and under what circumstances it would be a worthwhile investment while also sharing his idea of what the future will look like. If you are interested in reaching the Emerj audience, whether through thought leadership, e-mail, podcasts, or more, check out emerj.com/ad1.
Today's guest is Peter Voss, Founder, CEO, and Chief Scientist at Aigo.ai. Peter shares his perspective today on what is holding chatbots back and what the technology might do in the future. He also discusses some of the unique use cases and challenges of applying conversational interfaces in the banking space specifically. If you are interested in more interviews about conversational interfaces in general, where they are making a dent in business, check out the AI in Business podcast on all major platforms such as Apple, Spotify, Soundcloud, Google Podcasts, etc.
Today's guest is Pamela Negosanti, Head of Sector Strategy for Financial Services of Expert AI, a firm based in Italy, and doing lots of work globally in the financial space and NLP. Pamela breaks down in relative depth when and how to decide to build, buy, or combine the two. She lays out a couple of different continuums and gradients on decision-making that will help you figure out when you have more points on either side of the board, lean on the build or buy direction, or meet somewhere in the middle. If you are interested in learning to select the right AI vendor and going the buy route, be sure to download our free PDF brief called "5 Ways to Select the Right AI Vendor" at emerj.com/buy1
Today, returning with us is Mark Gazit, CEO, and Founder of ThetaRay, a firm based in Israel but doing business globally, with nearly $70M of funds raised, helping with fraud and anti-money laundering. Mark speaks with us today with a broader perspective in the world of fraud and AI deployments in general, as to where they will find more or less of a fit in the world of financial services in the year ahead as we aim to recover from this wild crisis. Want to learn more about AI deployment? Get Emerj's PDF guide: emerj.com/p1
Today's guest is Shankar Narayanan, Co-Founder, and COO of Active.Ai, a Singapore Head Quartered Fintech startup with an innovation lab in Bengaluru that delivers conversational banking services to help banks and financial institutions redefine their future digital strategy through AI. Shankar speaks to us today about where conversational interfaces belong in banking, where they can get fruitful use, and the areas where it is unrealistic to expect them to deliver value. Are you interested in more NLP use cases, including Conversational Interfaces? Download our free PDF Brief "Unlocking the Business Value of NLP" here: emerj.com/nlp1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Ram Sukumar, Co-Founder and CEO of Indium Software, a Technology Solutions company with deep expertise in Digital and QA services, such as AI, Advanced Analytics, Text Analytics Center of Excellence, Big Data, Data Engineering, Stream Processing & Data Virtualization, and low-code development across platforms. Ram speaks with me today about particular workflows for text analytics. What does it look like in operation? Where do people get it wrong, where can it fit into play, and where is the potential value for text analytics when it comes to ideas for use cases? What are the practical realities of what you need to expect when deploying these technologies? Are you interested in more use cases and best practices around AI adoption and ROI? Check out Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1
Returning today is the great and brilliant Luca Scagliarini, Chief Product Officer of Expert.ai (formerly Expert System). Expert.ai is a public enterprise services company specializing in Natural Language Processing (NLP). Expert System went public in 2014 and continues to grow, raising $29.4 million to expand its AI text extraction & analysis capabilities in 2020. Its clients include giants like Dow Jones, Vodafone, and the U.S. government. Expert.ai's approach combines symbolic human-like comprehension and machine learning to transform language-intensive processes into practical knowledge. In this episode, Luca helps us dive into: the "war" between symbolic & ML techniques for NLP, when to use NLP to support financial services, and what companies often get wrong. Want to learn more about unlocking the business value of NLP? Get Emerj's PDF guide: emerj.com/nlp1
Today Emerj welcomes the return of the great and brilliant Ash Fontana, General Partner at Zetta Ventures. Zetta primarily invests in AI-first companies with B2B business models, with a portfolio including Kaggle, Domo, and other notables. Ash's career has spanned private equity, investment banking, as well as venture capital. In this episode, he offers a valuable perspective on where AI is taking financial services. Episode topics include: AI-driven risk measurement, risk prediction, and risk mitigation. Want to learn more about AI in financial services? Get Emerj's pdf guide: emerj.com/fin1
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Ron Glozman, CEO of Chisel AI. Chisel is an AI-driven platform for commercial insurance, which won Gold at the 2019 Zurich Innovation World Championship and the ACORD InsurTech Innovation Challenge in 2018. The platform recognizes over 500 insurance-specific data points, including limits, premiums, deductibles, coverages, exclusions, and more. In this episode, Ron shares how he helps leaders make the business case for his AI-driven solutions, breaking down the challenges and opportunities for AI in insurance and in general. Want to discover more AI use cases in insurance? Get Emerj's AI in Insurance Cheat Sheet: emerj.com/ins1
Today's discussion is with Andrew Clark, cofounder of Monitaur, a Techstars-funded startup that provides auditability, transparency, and governance for companies using machine learning software. Andrew formerly served as Pincipal Machine Learning Auditor at Capital One. And in this episode he shares how AI can audit and monitor algorithms so they don't pose regulatory risks, breaking down why this is necessary, and how it works. Click here to learn more about opportunities for applying AI in financial services: emerj.com/fs1
Kevin Dewalt, founder of Prolego, shares AI project do's and don'ts from a consultant's perspective. Kevin previously served as Director of Strategic Alliances at In-Q-Tel, VC arm for the CIA and US intelligence community, now focuses on training, strategy, and implementation of AI applications for Fortune 500 companies. Are you working to catalyze AI for your organization or your clients? Enroll with Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1
Yinglian Xie, CEO of DataVisor, shares great analogies and practical insights about what fails and what works when putting together a capable team for AI implementation. Learn more about how to make the business case and deploy AI: emerj.com/p1
Rob Delaney, VP at VC firm Carrick Capital Partners, shares some predictions and hopes for his portfolio companies as they navigate through the economic storm caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. What's changing about our industries? What needs to change about the way we handle data? How are strategic priorities shifting? Rob shares his valuable perspective on these and other topics in this episode.
Want to learn more about how to get started deploying AI in your business? Download Emerj's free guide here: emerj.com/beg1
Today's interview is with Aki Ranin, Cofounder of Bambu, a robo-advisor platform based in Singapore. Bambu has raised millions to expand in Asian and American banking markets. Aki is also an adjunct lecturer on AI and machine learning at Singapore Management University. In this episode, he breaks down where AI fits into the world of robo-advisors and is frank about where AI isn't needed. For quick insights, download Emerj's AI in Financial Services Cheat Sheet: emerj.com/fin1
Building a scaleable and productive AI product for the enterprise is not easy. Our guest this week helps listeners think through how to go about it successfully. Suhas Uliyar, VP of Product Management for Digital Assistant AI, Mobile, and Integration at Oracle, discusses why security and scale are key to building AI products that will actually deliver value at large companies.
If you're interested in building AI products for the enterprise or want to get started with AI at your company, be sure to download our Beginning With AI Guide at emerj.com/beg1.
Our guest this week has a unique perspective on how technology priorities are changing in financial services as the pandemic unfolds: Sébastien de Brouwer, Chief Policy Officer at the European Banking Federation.
We speak with him about how the financial services industry is struggling during the crisis, as well as which jobs will ultimately survive and which will not.
If you want to discover how some of the largest companies in financial services are investing in AI, join our new Emerj Plus membership at emerj.com/plus
At this time, many strategic initiatives are being put on pause. The initiatives that tend to still have momentum are related to either driving efficiencies or reducing risk. And when it comes to risk, few are greater than regulatory risk.
This week, we interview Yinglian Xie, CEO and co-founer of DataVisor. Yinglian discusses how AI fits into the compliance landscape in financial services.
If you want to explore more AI use-cases across financial services and see what the big players in the sector are doing, you can use our AI Discovery tool with Emerj Plus. Learn more at emerj.com/plus
During the pandemic, there has been more emphasis than ever on "low-hanging fruit" AI applications and use-cases. Fraud detection is one of these use-cases.
There will be an uptick in financial crimes as happens during economic crises. This week, we speak with H.P. Bunaes, General Manager of Financial Services at Datarobot, which focuses on AutoML. H.P. speaks with us about how fraudulent payments often happen and can go undetected, as well as how AI could play a role in detecting them. He also discusses how to deploy AI applications for fraud detection in financial services.
To learn about how we map the ROI of AI in financial services, watch our short 2-minute video on our AI Opportunity Landscape research at emerj.com/fs1.
The coronavirus is dominating the news, and we figured it was important to cover it as it relates to AI in financial services. This week, we discuss what chatbot adoption will like look during and after the pandemic.
Our guest is Nat Cartwright with Finn AI. She speaks about viable use-cases for AI in customer service and where she thinks those priorities will become more important as we start to pull out of this economic moment we see ourselves in.
We also put together a report on AI priorities as they relate to coronavirus, the AI Business Continuity Action Plan, and we're giving it away free with the first month of Emerj Plus at emerj.com/ap1.
One of my favorite presentations last year was one I gave at an event called PayThink in California. I came to learn that there are more events about payments than almost any other topic in financial services.
This week, we interview the CEO of Deserve, Kalpesh Kapadia, about the future of payments. He discusses which aspects of how we pay for things will be different and explains how AI plays a role in payment fraud.
For more on the applications of AI in financial services, be sure to download our AI in Financial Services Cheat Sheet at emerj.com/fin1.
We are changing the name of our podcast to AI in Financial Services. In this episode, Dan explains why and discusses how the show will address the coronavirus pandemic and how it affects innovation in financial services.
While a lot of people are excited about customer-facing applications in financial services, right now, the ROI of AI comes down to fraud detection and compliance use-cases. That's what this episode is about.
We interview Hani Hagras, Chief Science Officer of Temenos. Hani speaks with us about the present and future of AI for compliance, including where banks can reduce risk and how AI could help.
If you're interested in how we track AI ROI across different industries, you can learn more about our AI Opportunity Landscape service at emerj.com/fs1.
When it comes to adopting AI applications, the team lessons are almost always better understood by the vendors than by the banks. This week, we speak with Sasha Caskey, CTO of Kasisto. He speaks with us about what he's learned from working with teams that get it right and teams that don't.
He also provides a particularly interesting insight about the importance of having "nurturing" data scientists.
If you haven't downloaded our Beginning With AI Guide, it includes some of our best takeaways about how to get started with AI from dozens of interviews over the last few months. You can download it at emerj.com/beg1.
Our guest this week, Madhu, works at one of the top 10 Australian banks. He has a lot of experience applying AI in customer service. Madhu speaks about how to grow an AI team, when to hire data scientists, when to hire someone to lead those data scientists, and what kinds of talent needs to be there to help guide data scientists.
If you're interested in learning more about our AI Opportunity Landscape work in the financial services industry, watch our video at emerj.com/fs1.
Our focus this month on AI in Banking is on building a successful data science team. This week, we speak with Jan Veldsink, who heads up AI for compliance at Rabobank. He discusses how to educate cross-functional AI teams, answering questions about how to get subject-matter experts and data scientists on the same page and how to measure the success of AI teams. If you're interested in getting started with AI at your bank or financial institution, be sure to download our Beginning With AI PDF guide at emerj.com/beg1.
Almost any time we engage with financial institutions, chatbots are at least part of the conversation. There are not many credible chatbot companies that are focused explicitly in banking, but Kasisto is one of them. Our guest this week, Sasha Caskey, is CTO of Kasisto.
Sasha talks about starting small with chatbots and reasonable expectations for them in banking.
If you're interested in mapping the full landscape of AI applications in financial services, be sure to watch our AI Opportunity Landscape video at emerj.com/fs1.
Our guest this week, Paul Barba, heads up AI efforts at Lexalytics. I visited their headquarters as part of our AI in Montreal piece we released about 2 years back.
Paul speaks with us about how NLP can layer value on top of conversational interfaces, as well as the limits of chatbots and NLP in finance.
For more on what NLP can and can't do in business, be sure to download our 9-page guide, Unlocking the Value of NLP in Business, at emerj.com/nlp1.
This week, we interview Madhu, who works on conversational interfaces at one of the four largest Australian banks. He speaks today about the phases of deployment for bringing a chatbot to life in financial services. It involves more phases than people might presume, but they are important to understand.
If you have an interest in the broader AI opportunity landscape in banking, you can learn more about how we can help at emerj.com/fs1.
This month, we start a brand new theme: chatbots in banking. Nothing is more hyped in banking than chatbots, so we want to shed some light on what's actually happening with chatbots in the banking industry and what really isn't.
Our guest this week is Scott Nowson, AI Lead at PwC, Middle East. Scott talks about the three phases of building a chatbot from scratch.
Scott was also one of the first to review our Getting Started With AI Report. If you're looking to apply AI within your business, our Getting Started With AI report is a distillation of our best AI adoption insights from over 50 interviews with executives in the enterprise and at AI vendor companies. You can learn more about it at emerj.com/a1.
This week, we interview Jan Veldsink, head of AI for compliance at Rabobank. He's been using AI and advanced statistics to detect fraud at Rabobank for nearly ten years. He shares with us some practical near-term applications of NLP in compliance, as well as his ideas on where NLP can add more value to banking in the future.
This is our last episode in January's series on NLP in banking. If you want to take action on the ideas we've talked about this month, be sure to download our guide on NLP use-cases at emerj.com/nlp1.
This week, we speak with a fan favorite guest from our AI in Industry Podcast: Dr. Charles Martin of Calculation Consulting. Charles talks about the challenges of applying natural language processing to wealth management, including what's working and what's not with AI in wealth management. He has a lot of experience applying AI in the enterprise, and I think you'll enjoy this particular episode quite a bit.
If you're interested in NLP and where it can be used in your business, download our NLP use-case guide at emerj.com/NLP1.
We speak this week with Greg Council, VP of Marketing and Product Management at Parascript, an AI-enabled search and discovery vendor selling into the financial services sector. In this episode, Greg discusses what NLP can and can't do in the banking industry.
If you're interested in broad natural language processing use-cases and you haven't already downloaded our NLP use-case guide, you can do so at emerj.com/NLP1.
It's the first episode of the new decade, and we're kicking off with our theme for the entire month of January: natural language processing (NLP) applications in banking.
Our first guest is Lee Smallwood, COO Markets and Securities at Citi. He was a trusted advisor for our most robust AI in banking research report.
This week, Lee talks about front- and back-end NLP applications in banking, and I think he paints a great overall picture that will tee up the other three interviews for this month well.
If you're interested in where NLP could fit in your business, download our Unlocking the Business Value of NLP PDF guide. It's the most succinct resource for figuring out where NLP would make a difference at your company. Download it at emerj.com/NLP1.
This is an excellent episode. We speak with Ritchie Ng, Chief AI Officer at Ensemble Capital. Ritchie goes into a topic we really haven't covered much in this series and which hasn't been a big focus of the podcast: hiring data scientists. That's hard when Google and Facebook are grabbing the top talent. Ritchie goes into how this should be done.
If you're getting started with AI at your business, be sure to download our guide on beginning with AI, which outlines 3 critical steps to initially adopting AI that most companies end up getting wrong. Download it at emerj.com/beg1.
This week, we speak with Marek Bardonski, CEO of AI Rev. He was previously with Sigmoidal, where his focus was on AI for wealth management.
When it comes to what banks can do that startups can't, it's make the most of the money they have on hand, and the future of wealth management and trading is potentially an area of edge for smart financial services firms and banks around the world.
In this episode, Marek goes into what is and isnt possible with AI as it relates to trading in particular.
Download our short guide, 3 Ways to Discover AI Trends in any Sector, if you're interested in finding high-ROI AI opportunities in your sector at emerj.com/t3.
This week, we speak with Executive Director of AlgoDynamix, Jeremy Sosabowski, about how banks can leverage partnerships and vendors as opposed to building in-house AI talent. He also speaks to us about how banks can deal with some of their inherent weaknesses when facing up against the startup ecosystem.
if you're interested in natural language processing applications in banking, be sure to download our NLP use-case guide at emerj.com/NLP1
Emerj.com/NLP1
In this episode of AI in Banking, Eigen Tech CEO Lewis Liu shares his thoughts on how banks can leverage their data, expertise, and deployable capital to compete and keep up with AI startups - and to stay relevant in the years ahead.
Lewis's original interview was part of our AI in Banking Landscape report. If you haven't yet downloaded your copy of the executive brief of this report, download it online at: emerj.com/b1
This month, we're focused on how banks can survive and thrive in an era of Ai disruption. Our first guest is Rob Delaney with Carrick Capital. Rob speaks with us about where banks can focus their own internal AI efforts if they want to compete with fintechs, whether they focus on customer-facing applications or internal applications. He also discusses what the future ecosystem looks like in terms of how finance is being transformed.
This is our final episode in our month-long series on AI for search and discovery in banking, and this week we speak with Dan Courtright, Senior Director of Management at Iron Mountain. If you've ever taken out a loan from the bank, you know that there is a lot of paperwork involved. AI-enabled search and discovery applications could help streamline loan processing and loan origination, as well as help underwriting, assess applicant risk. Dan and I discuss these use-cases in more in the final episode of this month's theme.
AI-enabled search and discovery is one capability of natural language processing, a type of artificial intelligence. For more NLP use-cases, download our latest resource at emerj.com/NLP1.
In this episode, we continue our theme on AI-enabled search and discovery in banking by interviewing Sheetal Rishi, Global Cognitive and Data Leader at IBM. She previously spent time McKinsey and Citi.
Sheetal speaks to us about which functional departments she believes there exists the most need for search and discovery applications in banking, and she discusses how the areas in which banks spend their money signals their motives for adopting AI technology.
This week, we speak with Luca Scagliarini with Expert System about a number of low-hanging fruit NLP applications within banking, including those for wealth management. He discusses where the advantage lies in terms of using NLP to decide on making investment decisions for clients. There's a lot of action in this space, and Luca does a great job of summarizing it.
He also discusses where chatbots will go and how the customer interaction will change in the years ahead, including how customers will be able to use chatbots to take actions instead of just get simple questions answered.
This week kicks off our first episode in our month-long series on AI for search and discovery in banking. How can AI help us find data, find files, find documents within a bank's intranet? Whether we're looking for customer information, legal issues, or the right document, how can AI help?
This week, we speak with Simone Bohnenberger-Rich of Eigen Tech about how banks can use AI to find documents that might require a review before the sunset date of LIBOR in 2021. This episode presents a great example of how AI for search and discovery can be used to maintain compliance and reduce risk.
This is our final episode in our series on building a culture of innovation in banks, our analyst episode in which Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella summarizes and adds insight to the interviews from this past month.
In this episode, Daniel talks about the individual greatest factor in determining whether a bank has a culture of innovation or not: how well the C-suite can articulate an AI transformation vision.
This week, we speak with Mark Gazit, CEO of Thetaray, an AI vendor that focuses on financial fraud and anti-money laundering. Mark speaks with us from a vendor perspective about what kind of culture a bank has when it adopts AI the right way and what kind of culture it has when it adopts AI the wrong way. Mark also doubles down on the idea that the culture of innovation needs to be top-down, coming from the leadership team.
When banks, financial services companies, and even AI vendors servicing the banking landscape look to innovate in how they improve their customer experience, it's almost never because they want to service their most valuable customers today.
It's almost always driven by what they know the next generation is going to expect. Whenever we do work for our clients, Millenials are almost always on the tip of their tongues.
This week, we speak with Michelle Scarborough, Managing Partner of Strategic Investments and Women in Tech at BDC. from the perspective of both a banker and an investor about what innovation means for Millenials, as well as how banks can enable the innovation that will attract and retain this new generation of digital citizen.
This month's theme is the culture of innovation within banks. When we did our AI in banking Vendor Scorecard and Capability Map report and we asked bankers what the biggest barrier to AI adoption in banking was, the number one response was the lack of a culture of innovation within banks. And the question is: how do we change that? How do we cultivate that culture?
In this episode, we interview Josephine Baliah, former Head of Client Experience Design at FirstRand Group, about having leadership that steps behind innovation. She talks about what the leadership can do and where it can be hired from.
This is the final episode of our September series on Strategic Recommendations for Bankers. My job this week is to connect the dots between some of the insights we got from our interviewees this month. This includes one common thread across interviews: banks have an underlying fear of the FinTechs popping up everywhere and eating market share.
This week, we speak with With Sebastien de Brouwer, Chief Policy Officer at the European Banking Federation, about where banking leaders should be focused when it comes to AI in banking. Sebastien discusses which areas of banking—customer experience, legal risk, positioning—banks might latch onto when allocating budget for AI.
Our guest this week is Nishant Chandra, PhD and Senior Director of Data Products at Visa.
Nishant speaks with us about how banks can pivot to play to their strengths in a future where the technology landscape is shifting under their feet. He uses some good examples from Apple and GE that can help banking leaders think through how their culture can change to make AI a positive and not a negative.
This week, we spoke to another of our research advisors: Lee Smallwood, COO of Markets and Securities for Citi North America. Lee speaks with us about the dynamics of AI talent: finding the right talent and growing the right talent.
How can a bank attract the right young people, train the right people within their organization, and martial them to success with AI in the future? How does a bank compete with Google, Facebook, and other AI-focused giants for AI talent?
We answer these questions in this week's interview.
This month we focus on strategic recommendations for AI in banking. We're bringing back our research advisors for our AI in Banking Vendor Scorecard and Capability Map report, and this week, we speak with Ian Wilson, former Head of AI at HSBC.
Wilson shares some of his thoughts as to what bankers should be thinking about when it comes to AI. Specifically:
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Why is all the investment and attention around AI focused on risk?
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What banking leaders should do to prepare for when that emphasis shifts away from risk.
It's the final episode of our month-long series on AI for the customer experience in banking. This week, Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella breaks down the insights from this month's interviews and colors them with data from our AI in Banking Vendor Scorecard and Capability Map report.
In this episode, Daniel draws a picture about what the data says about AI for customer-facing applications in banking and barriers to adoption for AI in customer service.
This week we're joined by Sasha Caskey, the CTO of Kasisto. Kasisto is the highest-rated conversational interface vendor in our AI in Banking Vendor Scorecard and Capability Map report.
Caskey discusses the future of where conversational interfaces fit into banking, including the automation of repetitive tasks. She also talks about the challenges of personal assistance, and how the real revolution in terms of market share may not come from established banks, but entirely digital banks and entirely digital currencies.
This week, we speak with Sindhu Joseph, CEO at CogniCor. She drops a quote in this interview that I really love and that I think hits on this month's theme well: "People don't need banks. They need banking."
Joseph discusses how banks will have to transform to meet consumer expectations that are set by big tech. She talks about how one could hypothetically build a bank for 10% of the cost that banks run on today, and what that means for large banks.
Finally, Joseph talks about how the banking workforce will change in response to artificial intelligence.
For more on how AI is transforming banking, download the Executive Summary Brief of our AI in Banking Vendor Landscape at Capability Map.
The theme for the entire month is AI for the customer experience in banking. In this episode, we speak with Yinglian Xie, CEO at Datavisor.
Xie sheds light on how users will expect to have "zero-step" authentication, the "friction-free" future of banking. Xie paints a picture about how the experience consumers have with big tech (such as a Facebook app) can be transferred into banking.
She gives a sense for how backend data can have a strong effect on how well banks can serve customers on the front end. Xie also talks about the value of new data sources as banks shift into the digital world.
We learned a lot about AI in risk-related banking functions, such as fraud, cybersecurity, compliance, and lending, in our AI in Banking Vendor Scorecard and Capability Map report. In this month's analyst deep dive, Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella discusses some of the insights garnered from the data in our report about why vendors selling products for risk-related functions have raised so much money and why AI is such a good fit for fraud and cybersecurity.
This week, we speak with Owen Hall, CEO at Heliocor, about the proliferation of what Hall calls "breadcrumbs," digital touchpoints that a user has with a bank. He talks about how these touchpoints are creating new opportunities for banks and, also, new risks in terms of fraud and cybersecurity.
Hall also discusses how banks can leverage their brand, in contrast to other guests we've had on the podcast, who are less optimistic about brands as an asset.
This week on the AI in Banking podcast we interview Ohad Samet, CEO of TrueAccord, about the applications of artificial intelligence for debt collection. We discuss personalized messaging, collection forecasting, and the debt collection AI lessons that might be applied to other finance use-cases.
This is the third episode in our month-long focus on risk-related AI functions in banking.
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This week, we speak with Adam Hunt, CTO of RiskIQ, about how cybersecurity is shifting in the world of banking and financial services and why AI will be necessary to handle those changes. Fraud and cybersecurity startups selling to banks have raised more than vendors for any other business function, and we talk about why AI is such a good fit for cybersecurity in banking.
Hunt also discusses how banks can secure AI talent in banking. Working on cybersecurity at a bank may not be as flashy as working on self-driving cars or working for Amazon, but there are things banks can do to attract AI talent they'll need to build and maintain cybersecurity systems.
This week, we speak with Gunnar Carlsson, co-founder of Ayasdi, one of the better-known anti-money laundering AI vendors and one of the highest ranking in our AI in Banking Vendor Landscape report. Carlsson pioneered his own branch of mathematics that eventually became the backbone of Ayasdi's AI software.
We speak to Carlsson about methods of calibrating and understanding risk at banks, new sources of data and algorithmic approaches (and what they mean for banks), and the difference between supervised and unsupervised learning. Both machine learning techniques can be used to solve business problems in unique ways.
Lastly, we discuss with Carlsson something of critical importance in risk-related functions: knowing your customer.
According to Sergey Gribov, Partner at Flint Capital, “banks are the ultimate commodity.” Fintech startups can offer banking services with leaner teams and better customer experiences using artificial intelligence. But banks need to differentiate themselves somehow from not just fintech companies, but other banks, especially as they decide which banking functions they want to focus on in the coming decade. Banks will almost certainly become leaner operations to stay in business, and they’ll need to make strategic decisions that direct their future.
In this episode of the AI in Banking podcast, Gribov offers a frank picture of the banking landscape in the coming years and how banks will need to respond to it.
We interview the former Head of Artificial Intelligence at HSBC about how banks should go about developing not one AI strategy for their business, but multiple AI strategies for each business function, each department at a company. He also discusses the importance of the Chief AI Officer in steering the company toward success with AI.
How are banks experimenting (or not) with AI now, and what do they need to transition to the kind of experimentation that will actually deliver value with AI in the coming few years? Find out in this episode of the AI in Banking Podcast.
Customer experience is what wins, according to Lee Smallwood, COO Markets and Securities Services at Citi. In this episode of the AI in Banking Podcast, we speak with Smallwood about how fintech companies are already using AI to improve the customer experience and how banks will likely have trouble competing with them on that front.
Smallwood, however, also talks about how banks can leverage their existing assets to retain market share in functions in which fintech companies don’t have the resources to compete, such as asset management. Learn what banks should be thinking about when it comes to developing winning AI strategies to compete with fintech startups.
Banks have several challenges to AI adoption. One of them is their legacy IT and data infrastructures which aren’t built or organized for machine learning. Nishant Chandra, PhD, Senior Director of Data Products at Visa, outlines how banks can transition their legacy systems to systems ready for AI.
Chandra discusses the importance of leadership teams in cultivating a company culture necessary for adopting AI with any success, and he gives examples of times when he’s seen old systems hold a company back from adopting AI and when he’s seen leadership do the same.
Discover how banks can overcome some of the pitfalls to AI adoption in this episode of the AI in Banking Podcast.
The Emerj team discusses insights from our AI in Banking Vendor Scorecard and Capability Map report. Which banking functions are banks eager to automate with AI? Which functions are sucking up all of the venture capital funding? Which AI capabilities are all hype? Emerj CEO Daniel Faggella and lead analyst Raghav Bharadwaj break down what our data tells us about the future of artificial intelligence in banking in this episode of the AI in Banking Podcast.