SUMMER EDITION

🏖️ This edition is coming to you from the beach on Long Island as my family and I are halfway through our trip back to the States. This installment leans more on curation than original reporting. Back to our regular schedule next week. 📆 

PROGRESS

AI is Improving Exponentially  

If you've been following the AI story at all, you know that to build AI models such as ChatGPT, it's prohibitively expensive. This has been widely documented by the media. What’s less reported on, but equally important, is how the cost to use AI is going down significantly. (This is a trend that I’ve previously highlighted.)

Not only is it getting cheaper to use these models, but they keep getting better. And the gap between the very best models and “average” ones continues to narrow.

Check out this headline from the IEEE, which is a well-regarded engineering association known for its measured analysis.

The story highlights how AI is improving exponentially. Take a look:

Regular readers know that AI adoption in the corporate world remains sluggish. AI use cases are still concentrated in narrow functions such as summarizing emails. Should AI innovation plateau now, it could take years for corporations to absorb the current capabilities.

Takeaway: AI technology is advancing faster than companies can adopt it, though I expect corporate adoption will mature over time.

ADOPTION

AI to Change 44% of Bank Jobs by 2030: Study

AI will redefine 44% of banking processes by 2030, with technology roles facing the biggest changes at 55%, according to new research by consulting firm ThoughtLinks.

The study examined nearly 5,000 banking processes and found commercial banking could see 49% transformation, wealth management 42%, and investment banking 33%.

By 2030, AI applications will expand dramatically. Banks will use AI to adjust loan pricing based on client behavior patterns, simulate thousands of deal structures by tweaking debt and equity terms, and provide real-time breach detection with 24/7 automated alerts.

However, humans will retain control over critical functions. Large corporate lending decisions, final IPO pricing, and client counseling during market downturns will remain relationship-driven and require human judgment.

The research examines work transformation rather than job losses, focusing on how AI will automate, redesign or eliminate existing processes.

Takeaway: Banks are automating the routine stuff while humans will handle big decisions and client relationships.

SECTION

Money Managers Use AI to Speed Up Slow Investing

Wall Street's biggest asset managers are using artificial intelligence to complete investment analysis in hours that previously took months, per Business Insider.

An AllianceBernstein analyst recently analyzed the market impact of President Donald Trump's healthcare legislation in one afternoon — work that once required months, said chief AI officer Andrew Chin.

"She was able to make money for our client portfolios a lot faster," Chin said.

The shift is transforming fundamental investing, the methodical approach used by Warren Buffett that relies on deep company analysis.

JPMorgan Asset Management created Smart Monitor to scan data for portfolio managers overseeing $3.7 trillion. BlackRock's $11 trillion operation launched Asimov, an AI platform that works around the clock analyzing research and filings.

"While everyone else is sleeping at night, we have these virtual AI agents," said BlackRock chief operating officer Robert Goldstein.

About 75% of AllianceBernstein's 500-plus investment professionals now use AI tools. The technology differs from earlier automated systems by processing unstructured information like earnings transcripts rather than just numerical data.

JPMorgan's platform includes Moneyball, which helps managers identify decision-making biases. BlackRock plans to deploy Asimov firmwide by its next investor meeting.

Takeaway: Wall Street's biggest money managers are using AI to compress months of investment analysis into hours, boosting efficiency and research capacity.

BANKING

JPM Developing AI Accelerator Team With $325K Salaries

The bank is developing a new AI “Accelerator” team tasked with building high-impact artificial intelligence solutions across its investment bank, offering salaries of up to $325,000 as it recruits for key roles in London and New York, according to news reports and job postings.

The bank is currently hiring a head of the Accelerator program, who will report to Daniele Magazzeni, chief analytics officer of JPMorgan’s commercial and investment bank. According to the job listing, the team will rotate through departments such as markets, sales, payments, banking, and securities services to address the firm’s most urgent AI use cases.

Rather than operate as a traditional product team, the Accelerator is expected to embed with different groups inside JPMorgan’s CIB to rapidly prototype and deploy tools that deliver measurable commercial results. The listing emphasizes quantifiable impact, such as hours saved—mirroring a recent Morgan Stanley coding tool credited with eliminating the equivalent of 280,000 hours of work.

The initiative reflects a growing emphasis among Wall Street firms on blending technical and commercial skillsets. While JPMorgan’s approach draws comparisons to Goldman Sachs’ quantitative strategists—known as “strats”—the Accelerator is designed with a broader mandate and longer-term deployment horizon.

Magazzeni said the bank is aiming to build a diverse team, with positions open in both London and New York. Job listings show the New York role pays up to $325,000.

Takeaway: JPMorgan's embedded AI team strategy reflects a key lesson: the best tech solutions come from working directly alongside the people who'll actually use them.

NEWS ROUNDUP

AI Firm Savvy Wealth Adds Ex-LPL CEO

• Savvy Wealth, a New York-based fintech company that specializes in AI support for financial advisors, has added former LPL CEO Mark Casady to its board and closed its $72 million Series B funding round, bringing its total capital raised to more than $100 million. (Financial Advisor)

Envestnet Unveils AI Tools For Wealth Management

• Envestnet has launched two artificial intelligence-powered tools aimed at transforming how financial advisors interact with client data and make investment decisions. (Financial Technology Report)

Fintech Exec Warns AI Myths Are Slowing Progress 

• David Sosna, a serial entrepreneur and CEO with more than 20 years of experience in financial technology, said banks often see AI mainly as a cost-cutting tool, when in fact the greater opportunity lies in driving revenue and improving customer relationships. (ABA Banking Journal)

AI Tools Now Used by 86% of Hedge Funds: Survey

• 86% of managers now using generative AI tools, according to IG Prime’s 2025 State of the Hedge Fund Industry report. Nearly two-thirds of hedge fund managers believe AI will be most impactful in forecasting, while 52% see the biggest benefits in data analysis.

ICYMI

Quant Strategies For Stock Pickers

Wall Street investors generally fall into two camps:

1. Fundamental — the Warren Buffett crowd, digging through 10-Ks and management calls.

2. Systematic — quants who let algorithms trade for them.

Until recently, the two camps mostly stayed separate.

The global systematic trading market has grown significantly in recent years, with algorithmic and quantitative strategies accounting for an increasing share of trading volume across asset classes. However, the technical barriers to entry remain high for smaller firms seeking to implement such approaches.

Cheaper data and better AI tools are helping narrow a once-wide gap between Buffett-style stock-picking and quant-driven algo models.

That shift has opened the door for new platforms to help bridge the two approaches.

Quant Journey, founded by physicist-turned-entrepreneur Jakub Polec, has developed a platform that aggregates data from over 70 financial sources and applies artificial intelligence to generate trading insights for hedge funds, family offices and proprietary trading firms.

The three-year-old project initially focused on delivering fast research and backtesting capabilities but has evolved to address what the founders see as a significant gap in the market: smaller financial firms wanting to implement systematic trading strategies but lacking the infrastructure and expertise to build such systems from scratch.

Read the full post here.

CALENDAR

Upcoming AI + Finance Conferences

I’ve put together a calendar of upcoming AI and finance conferences. Click on the image below to access links and event descriptions. Let me know if I’ve missed any and I’ll add them. Thanks!

WHAT ELSE I’M READING

• AI Eliminates Human Bias – Manuel Ebner on the New Era of Investing (finews.com)

• Robinhood Discussing Tokenized Equities With Regulators (Bloomberg)

• Quant Hedge Funds Ride Whiplash Markets to First-Half Riches (Bloomberg)

• Lloyds to run two-month Data and AI Summer School for employees (Finextra)