We've reached a point "where AI and machine learning are converging" and it's helping drive operational efficiencies and customer experience (CX) innovation for a wide range of businesses. That's how author and veteran IT expert Tom Davenport began a wide-ranging discussion about the state of AI and automation in the financial services sector at a recent virtual salon with senior industry executives. Another speaker, Rob Krugman, Chief Digital Officer at financial services firm Broadridge, said his firm is "increasingly using AI models to define and select the attributes and information that is important to their customers". The session was hosted by Bill Wright, Head of AI Machine Learning and Edge Innovation for Red Hat. It was moderated by CDX.

So far, most applications of blockchain technology have been solutions looking for problems. That's not to say there haven't been some really exciting use cases like Othera or Data Gumbo. It's just that so much garbage has been created alongside these gems of hope. ICOs, NFTs, and speculative cryptocurrencies in general, have created a tremendous amount of noise that serious investors need to peer through in order to find anything of substance. When a $4.2 billion company runs their entire business around monitoring crypto transactions to thwart ransomware attacks, one wonders if the value being created offsets all the collateral damage.

"While most organisations recognise that AI is a transformational technology with huge potential impact, their approach to adoption has been cautious. The survey data and white paper demonstrate how to harness the power of AI and successfully increase its adoption by first establishing a clear strategy and framework," said Michael Tae, head of strategy for Broadridge. "At Broadridge, we are focused on what we call'the ABCDs of innovation': AI, blockchain, the Cloud, digital and beyond. This is how we define our continued commitment to driving the innovation roadmap; helping our clients understand and apply next-generation technologies to transform business, optimise efficiency and generate growth.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly expanding within the financial services industry in the US, according to a new report from Broadridge Financial Solutions, a provider of technology to banks, brokers, asset managers, and other businesses. Broadridge surveyed 153 financial services professionals at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Operations Conference & Exhibition in May 2019, and found that the sector's top priority for AI applicationsis data mining, cited by 36% of the respondents. That was followed by post-trade processing (20%), market analytics (13%), and trading systems (12%). A majority of respondents (84%) said their company is in or past the "Enlightenment Age" of AI, during which they are at or beyond proof of concept. Twenty-nine percent have moved into the "Industrial Age", with pilot programs, and 20% are in the modern "Information Age," with AI in full production.

How Artificial Intelligence will revolutionize financial services is a hot topic among Wall Street technologists. But, just as a home renovation might be delayed by the discovery of extensive foundation problems that need to be repaired first, the financial services industry must improve the quality of its data before it can realize the benefits of AI. Early front-office AI applications, such as Deutsche Bank using AI to predict equity pricing, have won headlines. But there is also significant momentum around applying AI to post-trade processing, compliance and risk management: Instead of manually searching for a needle in a haystack to learn why a trade failed to identify a real issue, AI can pre-emptively flag problems and solve the exception. However, while many capital markets firms have explored AI initiatives, few of these pilot programs (less than 15% according to Forrester Research) have made it into production to yield real business value.

Artificial intelligence is likely to bring benefits in post-trade processing for capital markets before distributed ledger technology such as blockchain is widely adopted. Vijay Mayadas, head of strategy and fixed income at Broadridge, told Markets Media that post-trade processing in capital markets generates huge amounts of data so workflows will benefit from intelligent automation and machine learning. He said: "There is huge interest in tackling the 5% of exceptions that cause 95% of settlement failures and costs. We are running a number of pilots and expect adoption sooner than blockchain." Mayadas is responsible for strategy, acquisitions, partnerships and growth-related activities at Broadridge including the firm's blockchain initiatives.

Artificial intelligence is likely to bring benefits in post-trade processing for capital markets before distributed ledger technology such as blockchain is widely adopted. Vijay Mayadas, head of strategy and fixed income at Broadridge, told Markets Media that post-trade processing in capital markets generates huge amounts of data so workflows will benefit from intelligent automation and machine learning. He said: "There is huge interest in tackling the 5% of exceptions that cause 95% of settlement failures and costs. We are running a number of pilots and expect adoption sooner than blockchain." Mayadas is responsible for strategy, acquisitions, partnerships and growth-related activities at Broadridge including the firm's blockchain initiatives.