Event summary by:
Marianne O, Lumen Global Investments
On June 21, Financial Women of San Francisco and 100 Women in Finance collaboratively produced a webinar on how emerging technologies, ranging from AI and machine learning to digital capabilities, are reshaping finance functions and operations.
The webinar featured a distinguished panel of industry experts who shared their valuable insights. The panelists included Sue English Mazzetti from Quorum Private Wealth, Esi Minta-Jacobs from AssetMark, Marianne O from Lumen Global Investments, and Serena Perin Vinton from Franklin Templeton Investments. The session was expertly moderated by Ramya Krishnaganth from Uvid Consulting covering a wide range of discussion points, delving into key topics that are summarized and outlined below:
- Each company, whether a fund management house, independent wealth advisor, or wealth technology firm, emphasizes the integration of technological tools or software solutions to make their business more efficient, enhance investment processes and analytics, provide better and more effective solutions for their clients, or improve their management of personnel and overall organizational performance.
- Data has become very important to an organization.
- Leveraging technology for enhanced data aggregation and analysis creates valuable time-saving opportunities for businesses and their clients.
- The proliferation of data extends to how we manage our people and organization, ultimately running a better and more efficient organization.
- Combining the most essential data, tools, algorithms, and risk measurement in a software solution can create more personalized asset allocation and portfolio construction to better align with the investors’ risk profile and objectives.
- With collaborative tools, investment research processes become more efficient and more in-depth, risks and performances are better analyzed, and trading tools are more effectively deployed, resulting in superior risk-adjusted returns. Technology can be used to scour for sustainability reports to collect better ESG data for compliance purposes (e.g., fulfilling EU standards).
- The use of technology in finance has evolved from being a tactical process (used for trading and compliance) to being a strategic enabler that transforms all the support functions.
While technology has made significant advancement in various fields, it cannot completely replace human interaction, as noted by the panel speakers. Technology, no matter how advanced, cannot replicate the trust-building process and the value of personal connections that are essential elements in wealth management. AI (e.g., ChatGPT) has limitations so it works better as a co-pilot with humans to make the pilot (human) stronger, wiser, and more efficient. Nevertheless, investment professionals can upskill by understanding how they can leverage AI, data science, and technology in their business and investment processes.
The panelists ended by sharing their favorite podcasts and books.
Podcasts by subject:
Entrepreneurs and business: Masters of Scale, How I Built This, and Startup.
Social interaction: Kelly Corrigan Wonders.
Science and technology: Huberman Lab, and Babbage.
Productivity: Back to work.
Book:
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall.
100WF members can view a the full recording of this webinar click here.
