People First. Then Technology

BFS COO Joe Walker discusses the uses and limitations of AI in the financial services on the COO Roundtable podcast. Listen now.

The AI revolution has profound implications for the financial services industry, says Bradley, Foster & Sargent Chief Operating Officer Joe Walker. Bit before attempting to harness its vast power, he says, firms first need to focus on their people, on data governance and on getting the processes right. Joe shared his views on a recent episode of the COO Roundtable podcast with host Matt Sonnen and Hannah Koch, Director of Strategic Initiatives at Altair Advisers.

“I always laugh when people talk about the march of AI and automation models and employing a mechanized approach to achieve scale,” he said. “At the end of the day, this business has always been and continues to be about people interacting with people to create solutions.” As an “accelerant,” Joe said, technology can figure crucially in helping people achieve maximum value from interactions with colleagues and clients. “But you don’t want to add the accelerant before you’ve got everything put together.”

As AI came to the fore, “BFS started getting inquiries about AI and what it would mean for the people who worked within our organization as well as for our savvier clients, some of whom came out of technology backgrounds themselves,” Joe said. “Our approach was that we we’re not going to do anything until we had really grounded ourselves in a data governance model.”

While technology can be a potent productivity enhancer, he said, “we’re not at the point where you can say to AI, ‘build me a portfolio. “I think there’s going to be a place for that in certain environments, but I wouldn’t say that we’re looking at AI replacing the advisor by any stretch of the imagination. So, you look at our highly regulated people business, you do governance, you do data, and you do workflows, and then you start to have something that’s the basis for success.”