Last week in London, we hosted an industry event focused on the building blocks of artificial intelligence (AI) in the UK wealth management sector. With so much hype and noise surrounding the role, application, and capabilities of AI within the sector, the event focused on bringing the opportunity to life with an emphasis on definitions, clear adoption opportunities, the leading use cases, easy wins to drive internal support, overcoming challenges, and building AI capabilities.
Sponsored by SS&C Blue Prism, the event was titled ‘Delivering AI in UK wealth management: From ideas to impact’, and featured a panel discussion moderated by our founder, Stephen Wall, and featuring panellists:
- Steve Dyson, Director, IAWMC
- Josh Lewsey, Group Strategy and Corporate Development Officer, Brooks MacDonald
- Rajen Madan, Founder, Leading Point
- Drew Sonden, Manager, Strategic Accounts, SS&C Blue Prism
That AI is poised to rapidly transform the financial services landscape, including wealth management, is clear for all to see. The question is not the long-term direction of travel, but how to break free of the noise and bring these technological capabilities into the business in the most effective ways.
The benefits of adopting and implementing AI are broad and deep, with the panel highlighting enhanced customer service, operational efficiency, and more effective risk management as key areas.
Defining AI – an important context
Setting the context, the panel defined AI as a piece of software that delivers more human-like outputs, often referred to as generative AI. That baseline is an important clarification, given the hype that surrounds this topic, and its capabilities and potential. It is, after all, just another piece of software and something that should fit into the business strategy and operating model of each business.
Adoption status – where is the industry today?
This is where we get into the details. The industry needs to start using and benefiting from these tools to (1) show a return on existing investments, (2) provide evidence to leadership of the technology’s benefits, and (3) keep pace with the competition and threats. One panellist highlighted the need to quantify and demonstrate AI’s value, discussing the challenges of quantifying AI's value creation and the industry's need to demonstrate financial value.
Another panellist highlighted how the market can currently be categorised into three distinct cohorts in terms of their approach and activity around AI:
- Firms that are nervous about AI, and therefore are not yet engaged in any meaningful way;
- Firms that are experimenting with AI, and therefore early-stage; and
- Firms that are building AI-native platforms, and therefore both highly engaged and free from legacy constraints, particularly technology.
Another panellist categorised firms similarly, but into:
- Those that are still cautious about AI;
- Those that are experimenting with specific problems; and
- Those that are piloting AI regardless of the opportunity.
The panel described a multi-track marketplace. Much of that is determined by firm size and profile, with experimentation more available to large firms than to their smaller counterparts. There are the leaders, fast followers, laggards, and so on. But it was noted that being a leader in this space does not determine long-term success. The wealth management industry and its participants do not need to be at the forefront of AI’s delivery, but they do have to take note of where it can be built in, and act accordingly.
Within this engagement context, the panel highlighted two further notable points:
- The importance of establishing best practice, and of sharing knowledge across the industry.
- The perceived lack, so far, of commoditised AI products and the related need for specific AI solutions to address specific business challenges (rather than broad AI platforms).
Although this is a competitive marketplace, the opportunity is available for all, and the scale of this topic necessitates a collective effort to learn, shape, and engage.
Easy wins – where can firms achieve quick success?
Although it is clear that AI can be applied across hundreds of use cases and almost all areas of the wealth management business, the panel identified the following as the easiest wins, and those best-suited for a fast return-on-investment for impatient and risk-averse boards:
- Governance, risk and compliance (GRC), with both cost and risk benefits
- Customer engagement and sales, including areas like customer contact journeys
- Complaint handling
Of course, this is not AI in freestyle: there is always a ‘human in the loop’. The panel discussed the importance of human involvement in AI applications, particularly in client-facing roles and areas. The panel agreed that AI should be used to augment human capabilities rather than replace them, with AI being the engine room for speedy delivery and the human being the approval/quality control layer.
Of specific importance, there then needs to be a significant focus on training and upskilling for team members to fully deliver on goals and to effectively support the capabilities of AI. This effort will also help to mitigate any workforce displacement concerns.
Delivery and implementation – what is needed?
Training is an important element of successful delivery. The panel went further to look at other key elements needed for successful AI implementation. On their list were the following elements:
- Clear objectives for the business, plus the need for accountability
- Trusted IT providers and infrastructure
- Controlled AI environments and solid frameworks
- Trusted data
- Assurance and governance, including restricting access, controlling prompts, and providing explainability and audit trails.
Additionally, although the panel agreed the importance of the regulator’s role in overseeing AI's ethical and regulatory aspects, they added that it did not need to establish more rules specific to AI. As a software layer, it was felt that the necessary rules relating to anything AI touched were already in place. The regulator should not over-regulate, and firms should themselves understand and manage the risks.
Concluding thoughts
- AI has the power to drive significant changes in the business of wealth management, but it has work to do to bring AI fully into its business.
- The industry needs to strike a balance between the power of AI technology and the role of humans in delivery and oversight.
- With such ongoing and potentially significant change, the industry needs to focus on continuous learning and training.
- As an industry, firms need to come together to discuss the ongoing potential, application, and impact of AI across the wealth management business.
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About The Wealth Mosaic
The Wealth Mosaic is a UK-headquartered online solution provider directory and knowledge resource, focused specifically on the wealth management industry.
For wealth managers, the buy side of our marketplace, The Wealth Mosaic is designed to enable discovery of key solutions, solution providers and knowledge resources by specific business needs.
For solution providers and vendors, the sell side of our marketplace, The Wealth Mosaic exists to support the positioning, exposure and business development needs of these firms in a more complex and demanding market.
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