

AI in Financial Services Podcast
Daniel Faggella
The AI in Financial Services is for non-technical financial services leaders looking to find AI opportunities, build an AI strategy, and deliver ROI.
Each week, Emerj AI Research team (and CEO Daniel Faggella) interview leaders from global financial services firms and unicorn AI startups to get to the heart of AI ROI - uncovering what’s working and what’s not working for FinServ leaders.
Visit our advertising page to learn more about reaching our executive audience of AI adopters in the world’s largest banking and insurance firms: https://emerj.com/advertise
Each week, Emerj AI Research team (and CEO Daniel Faggella) interview leaders from global financial services firms and unicorn AI startups to get to the heart of AI ROI - uncovering what’s working and what’s not working for FinServ leaders.
Visit our advertising page to learn more about reaching our executive audience of AI adopters in the world’s largest banking and insurance firms: https://emerj.com/advertise
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jun 1, 2021 • 29min
Unique Considerations for Applying Chatbots in Banking - with Peter Voss of Aigo.ai
Today's guest is Peter Voss, Founder, CEO, and Chief Scientist at Aigo.ai. Peter shares his perspective today on what is holding chatbots back and what the technology might do in the future. He also discusses some of the unique use cases and challenges of applying conversational interfaces in the banking space specifically. If you are interested in more interviews about conversational interfaces in general, where they are making a dent in business, check out the AI in Business podcast on all major platforms such as Apple, Spotify, Soundcloud, Google Podcasts, etc.

May 1, 2021 • 17min
Enterprise AI: When to Build, Buy, or Both? - with Pamela Negosanti of Expert AI
Today's guest is Pamela Negosanti, Head of Sector Strategy for Financial Services of Expert AI, a firm based in Italy, and doing lots of work globally in the financial space and NLP. Pamela breaks down in relative depth when and how to decide to build, buy, or combine the two. She lays out a couple of different continuums and gradients on decision-making that will help you figure out when you have more points on either side of the board, lean on the build or buy direction, or meet somewhere in the middle. If you are interested in learning to select the right AI vendor and going the buy route, be sure to download our free PDF brief called "5 Ways to Select the Right AI Vendor" at emerj.com/buy1

Apr 1, 2021 • 18min
Post-COVID Changes of AI Priorities in FinServ - with Mark Gazit of ThetaRay
Today, returning with us is Mark Gazit, CEO, and Founder of ThetaRay, a firm based in Israel but doing business globally, with nearly $70M of funds raised, helping with fraud and anti-money laundering. Mark speaks with us today with a broader perspective in the world of fraud and AI deployments in general, as to where they will find more or less of a fit in the world of financial services in the year ahead as we aim to recover from this wild crisis. Want to learn more about AI deployment? Get Emerj's PDF guide: emerj.com/p1

Mar 1, 2021 • 28min
Where Conversational Interfaces Belong in Banking - with Shankar Narayanan of Active.Ai
Today's guest is Shankar Narayanan, Co-Founder, and COO of Active.Ai, a Singapore Head Quartered Fintech startup with an innovation lab in Bengaluru that delivers conversational banking services to help banks and financial institutions redefine their future digital strategy through AI. Shankar speaks to us today about where conversational interfaces belong in banking, where they can get fruitful use, and the areas where it is unrealistic to expect them to deliver value. Are you interested in more NLP use cases, including Conversational Interfaces? Download our free PDF Brief "Unlocking the Business Value of NLP" here: emerj.com/nlp1

Feb 1, 2021 • 29min
Text Analytics and NLP in Financial Services - with Ram Sukumar of IndiumSoft
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Ram Sukumar, Co-Founder and CEO of Indium Software, a Technology Solutions company with deep expertise in Digital and QA services, such as AI, Advanced Analytics, Text Analytics Center of Excellence, Big Data, Data Engineering, Stream Processing & Data Virtualization, and low-code development across platforms. Ram speaks with me today about particular workflows for text analytics. What does it look like in operation? Where do people get it wrong, where can it fit into play, and where is the potential value for text analytics when it comes to ideas for use cases? What are the practical realities of what you need to expect when deploying these technologies? Are you interested in more use cases and best practices around AI adoption and ROI? Check out Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1

Jan 1, 2021 • 27min
Applying NLP in FinServ, Practical Considerations - with Luca Scagliarini of Expert.ai (formerly Expert System)
Returning today is the great and brilliant Luca Scagliarini, Chief Product Officer of Expert.ai (formerly Expert System). Expert.ai is a public enterprise services company specializing in Natural Language Processing (NLP). Expert System went public in 2014 and continues to grow, raising $29.4 million to expand its AI text extraction & analysis capabilities in 2020. Its clients include giants like Dow Jones, Vodafone, and the U.S. government. Expert.ai's approach combines symbolic human-like comprehension and machine learning to transform language-intensive processes into practical knowledge. In this episode, Luca helps us dive into: the "war" between symbolic & ML techniques for NLP, when to use NLP to support financial services, and what companies often get wrong. Want to learn more about unlocking the business value of NLP? Get Emerj's PDF guide: emerj.com/nlp1

Dec 1, 2020 • 21min
AI in Risk Management - with Ash Fontana, General Partner at Zetta Ventures
Today Emerj welcomes the return of the great and brilliant Ash Fontana, General Partner at Zetta Ventures. Zetta primarily invests in AI-first companies with B2B business models, with a portfolio including Kaggle, Domo, and other notables. Ash's career has spanned private equity, investment banking, as well as venture capital. In this episode, he offers a valuable perspective on where AI is taking financial services. Episode topics include: AI-driven risk measurement, risk prediction, and risk mitigation. Want to learn more about AI in financial services? Get Emerj's pdf guide: emerj.com/fin1

Nov 1, 2020 • 21min
Making the Business Case for AI in Insurance - with Ron Glozman
Today's guest is the great and brilliant Ron Glozman, CEO of Chisel AI. Chisel is an AI-driven platform for commercial insurance, which won Gold at the 2019 Zurich Innovation World Championship and the ACORD InsurTech Innovation Challenge in 2018. The platform recognizes over 500 insurance-specific data points, including limits, premiums, deductibles, coverages, exclusions, and more. In this episode, Ron shares how he helps leaders make the business case for his AI-driven solutions, breaking down the challenges and opportunities for AI in insurance and in general. Want to discover more AI use cases in insurance? Get Emerj's AI in Insurance Cheat Sheet: emerj.com/ins1

Oct 1, 2020 • 22min
Auditing Machine Learning Systems in Financial Services - with Andrew Clark of Monitaur
Today's discussion is with Andrew Clark, cofounder of Monitaur, a Techstars-funded startup that provides auditability, transparency, and governance for companies using machine learning software. Andrew formerly served as Pincipal Machine Learning Auditor at Capital One. And in this episode he shares how AI can audit and monitor algorithms so they don't pose regulatory risks, breaking down why this is necessary, and how it works. Click here to learn more about opportunities for applying AI in financial services: emerj.com/fs1

Sep 1, 2020 • 25min
AI Consulting Do's and Don'ts - with Kevin Dewalt of Prolego
Kevin Dewalt, founder of Prolego, shares AI project do's and don'ts from a consultant's perspective. Kevin previously served as Director of Strategic Alliances at In-Q-Tel, VC arm for the CIA and US intelligence community, now focuses on training, strategy, and implementation of AI applications for Fortune 500 companies. Are you working to catalyze AI for your organization or your clients? Enroll with Emerj Plus: emerj.com/p1