With less than three weeks remaining, anticipation is building for FStech's inaugural The Future of AI in Financial Services conference. The event is taking place at the London Hilton Tower Bridge on 24 September 2024 - register to attend the event here.

In this article we explore sessions to look forward to at this timely event, which brings together leading experts from a range of top financial institutions, including the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Santander, NatWest, Kroo Bank, Domestic & General Insurance, Allianz Global Investors, as well as many others.

Through a series of engaging keynote presentations and panel discussions, attendees will gain invaluable insights into how AI is poised to revolutionise everything from retail and investment banking to wealth management and insurance. Key speakers will delve into the latest AI developments, with a particular focus on cutting-edge applications in UK financial services.

Opening keynote: Kroo Bank

One of the most exciting sessions of the day will be from our opening keynote speaker Alexey Gabsatarov, chief technology officer at Kroo Bank – who at 9.10 – 9.40am will detail the real-world experience of the bank, from identifying the need for genAI-driven support to the successful deployment of its chatbot.

Panel sessions

The duality of AI: How the technology is helping fight FinCrime and bolstering the criminals - Sponsored by NICE Actimize

In this panel, taking place at 12.30 – 1.10, Jasmeet Narang, Chief Technology Officer and Director of Financial Crime, Santander; Rajitha Prabhakaran, Group Financial Crime Officer, Domestic & General Insurance; Rajinish Kumar, Head of Investment Technology and AI, Allianz Global Investors ; and Liron Reitman, Director of AI Product, NICE Actimize will look at how AI is helping financial services providers tackle increasingly sophisticated FinCrime and fraud, whilst also exploring some of the challenges driven by criminals exploiting the technology.

The session will delve into specific AI applications in fraud detection, anti-money laundering, and identity verification, highlighting real-world case studies of successful implementations. Panellists will also examine the dark side of AI, discussing how criminals are leveraging machine learning and other AI technologies to create more convincing scams, automate money laundering processes, and develop advanced evasion techniques.

AI and digital transformation: Reshaping financial services

In this not-to-be-missed panel, taking place at 14.40 – 15.20, Chris Waring, Head of Digital Customer Journeys at NatWest; Mauricio Toro, Principal Data Scientist, Cheddar; Anu Widyalankara, Director, Payments Strategy & Technology, EY; and Stuart Taylor, Head of E-trading, MUFG EMEA will look at how beyond targeted applications in risk, compliance, and ESG, AI is already proving to be a catalyst for broader digital transformation in financial services.

Panellists will share their visions on how AI could reshape customer experiences, operations models, product innovation, and ecosystem collaboration in banking, capital markets, asset management, and insurance.

The future is now: A deep dive into the current use cases of Generative AI in financial services - Sponsored by Domino Data Lab

In this panel discussion, held at 10.10 - 10.50, Andrew Beal, Chief Architect, Markerstudy; Kjell Carlsson, Head of Data Science Strategy and Evangelism, Domino Data Lab; Polly Tsang, Senior Financial Services Regulatory Manager, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW); and Pierre Legrand, Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal will explore the cutting-edge applications of genAI currently being implemented by industry leaders in financial services.

Our experts will examine how genAI is revolutionising areas such as personalised financial advice, risk assessment, and customer service. They'll discuss the potential for genAI to create tailored financial products, automate complex reporting processes, and enhance fraud detection.

Industry and technology experts

At 09.40 – 10.10, Dr. Richard L. Harmon, Vice President, Financial Services, RedHat, will look at the trends, strategies and challenges associated with navigating the AI landscape in financial services.

In his presentation, Harmon will explore AI adoption in the financial sector, focusing on key trends from predictive analytics to generative AI. He'll address challenges like regulatory compliance, data quality issues, and integration with legacy systems, while examining how firms develop comprehensive AI strategies, particularly using Open Source tools.

At 11.30 – 12.00, Amine El Badaoui, Senior Manager, Product-EMEA, Rackspace Technology will talk about how to leverage Large Language Models and genAI in financial services.

In his session, Badaoui will examine how these technologies are reshaping banking, insurance, and investment management, offering new possibilities for customer service, risk assessment, and financial planning.

At 12.00 – 12.30, Dr Ansgar Walther, Associate Professor of Finance, Imperial College Business School will focus on financial inclusion and advice in the AI era.

The growing adoption of AI and machine learning in finance has broad implications for business and society. Walther will discuss two themes relating to recent research: on one hand, more fine-tuned algorithmic decisions in retail markets like credit and insurance can generate cheaper and more efficient products, but have raised concurrent concerns about unfair discrimination against disadvantaged groups. In his presentation, he refers to large-scale administrative data used to assess the associated costs and benefits in the context of the US mortgage market.

On the other hand, high quality financial advice has traditionally been reserved for wealthy clients, and the development of scalable robo-advisors promises to improve financial inclusion. Following a collaboration with a major global provider of robo-advice, Walther talks about how the School's research explored whether all aspects of financial advice can be automated, or whether human advice — combined with algorithmic ones — continues to provide a unique value-added.

Closing keynote: update from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

Last but certainly not least, in the conference’s closing keynote we will hear from Ed Towers, Head of Advanced Analytics & Data Science Units Intelligence & Digital at the FCA.

Register to join the conference here.

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