INSIGHTS  /  ARTICLES

Financial Services Firm Resources, Technology and Telecom

AI as Your New Investment Partner

As AI transforms investment strategies and the role of asset managers, leaders across the financial services industry are uncovering new ways to capture opportunities at speed. Yet as automated agents take on more tasks (including monitoring, rebalancing, and reporting), questions around oversight and accountability are growing.  

To explore what’s next, GLG brought together three leading experts for small group roundtables and a panel discussion on AI’s continued potential to drive smarter decisions, stronger performance, and long-term strategic value.

Featured experts: 

  • Tom Liu, Former Head of Data Science at Advent International 
  • Cerwin Ma, Former Global Head of Transformation – Technology at State Street 
  • Ben Reeves, Former Chief Investment Officer at Wealthsimple.inc 

Key takeaways: 

Success hinges on strong governance 

Cerwin emphasized that to effectively build AI modeling layers, organizations must set clear ROI targets that align with their overall corporate strategy. He noted that success depends on designing and implementing strong AI governance policies, which the CIO, CFO, and other members of leadership can work to drive and measure.  

 


There is true value in building customizable models 

Tom underscored the value in building customized, open-source AI models versus relying on off-the-shelf solutions that may not fit specific business requirements or integrate with legacy systems. Purpose-built, company-specific models are better able to address unique operational needs and strategic goals, while navigating key challenges around data privacy and upholding regulatory compliance frameworks.  

  

Empowered CIOs 

Ben noted that CIOs will start to see real benefits from AI as it evolves from customer service-focused agents to agents capable of developing code that optimizes strategic asset allocation. He shared that this shift represents a move from basic support roles to more advanced, high-impact functions in financial strategy – ultimately helping to ensure asset allocation is optimized for the strongest performance. 

 

What’s next:  

  • Cerwin noted that “AI needs to be viewed as a strategic enabler,” not a short-term efficiency tool. He also mentioned that true impact comes when AI initiatives are directly linked to an organization’s long-term business goals and measured by tangible outcomes.  
  • Tom shared that success depends on focusing on the right metrics: “Even if AI gets you 80% there, if you’re hyper-focused on a single KPI, what does that really mean for your revenue growth, working capital, or free cash flow conversation? Those are the metrics that matter most.”  
  • Ben highlighted how AI can strengthen investment operations. “When it comes to supporting my investment team, the most helpful improvement will come from enabling our risk management group to monitor portfolio risk through AI-driven agents,” he shared.  

 

This event was part of Perspectives, GLG’s event series giving clients and experts insight into today’s most important topics from every key angle. 

 

Contact Us

Enter your contact information below and a member of our team will reach out to you shortly.

Speaker Biographies

Hilary Malone PhD, has over 25 years of experience in global drug development, regulatory &government affairs, manufacturing and commercialization within the biopharma industry. Hilary hassignificant board level and executive committee experience including large scale organizationalrestructuring/transformation/integration, major M&A, biotech start-up, capital raising, investorrelations and pre-IPO.​

Hilary is currently CEO of Stylus Medicine, a private genetic medicine biotech company. Previously sheserved as CEO of a Series-A neuroscience company. Prior to these roles, Hilary served as COO & EVP atValo Health Inc., Chief Regulatory Officer & SVP at Sanofi Inc., and Chief Regulatory Officer & SVP atPfizer and Wyeth. Previous experience also includes senior regulatory and drug development roles atReata Pharmaceuticals Inc., AstraZeneca plc and GlaxoSmithKline plc.​

Hilary also serves on the Board of Directors of Hansa Biopharma and Adthera Bio. Hilary holds a PhD inMolecular Neuropharmacology and a BSc in Physiology.

Dr. Thomas Lönngren is Director at his own company PharmaExec Consulting AB. He is the Chairman of the Board of directors at Egetis Therapeutics AB, Sweden. Dr Lönngren also serves as board member at Compass Pathways PLC, London UK and NDA Group, Sweden. He acts as advisor to the following companies and organizations: NDA group, Sweden, Sweden, Artis Venture, San Francisco, US, Fujimoto Japan, Skin2Neuron Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia, US, Special advisor to the Centre for Innovation in Regulatory Science (CIRS), London UK. From 2001 until2011, Mr.Lönngren served as the Executive Director of the European Medical Agency. He was previously Deputy General Director of the Swedish Medical Product Agency until 2000. He has a degree in pharmacy and MSc in Social and Regulatory Pharmacy from Uppsala University. He is also an Honorary Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in Great Britain, Honorary Doctorate from the University of Uppsala, Honorary Doctorate from University of Bath, UK.

Speaker Biographies

Marie-Anne Aymerich

Marie-Anne has built a portfolio of senior advisory and non-executive roles, following a successful international career in the FMCG and Luxury sectors. She is a non-executive director of Haleon, a FTSE100 company listed in 2022 after the demerger from GSK. She is also chairwoman of Haleon Environment and Societal Sustainability committee. She is the executive director of the Pierre Fabre Group where she also sits on the Strategic Committee, and she is a Board Member of The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, one of the world’s most prestigious chamber orchestras. She is also an angel investor and focuses her time and investments on start-ups with the strongest purpose and impact.

Marie-Anne is also a regular lecturer at HEC Paris on purposeful leadership, and she has created a serious game called “Planet Purpose” to upskill people on sustainability and purpose. Throughout her 35year executive career she delivered a strong track-record of business performance and growth in brands and portfolio in both developed and emerging economies.

As a senior leader with Unilever, she led a number of different personal care categories across France, Spain and the USA – including managing the Dove brand worldwide and culminating in leading Unilever’s global Oral Care division. She also worked for LVMH as Brand General Manager of Dior Perfumes and Cosmetics worldwide. Marie-Anne was also Vice-President of Imagine for Margo – Children with Cancer for ten years, a charity she helped found in 2011 with the goal of eradicating children’s cancer. The charity is the #1 charity focused on child cancer in France and has fundraised more than €14m since its creation. Marie-Anne is a graduate from HEC Paris. She is married and has two children aged 29 and 26.

Patrick Jephson

Patrick Jephson is a consultant, journalist, broadcaster and New York Times bestselling author, based in Washington D.C. He is a published authority on corporate and personal branding and crisis communications, addressing conferences worldwide as well as events at the U.S. State Department, the American University and the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

With more than twenty-five years’ experience in the government, luxury and family office sectors, Patrick’s portfolio has included globally admired brands as well as national agencies and NGOs. He has also worked on reputation and legacy briefs with European, Middle Eastern and Asian families, including royalty. He now writes, presents, and advises on factual and drama TV programs, appearing on every major American and many international networks. He was recently an expert consultant to the award-winning Netflix series The Crown and provided live commentary on the Coronation of King Charles.

Patrick owes much of his practical communications and protocol experience to Princess Diana, who chose him to be her equerry and only private secretary/chief of staff. He served the Princess for eight years, responsible for all aspects of her public life, global humanitarian initiatives, and private organization. Having worked for an internationally high-profile woman (and as the father of two professionally successful daughters) he feels a special affinity for cross-cultural, gender and perception issues.

Patrick was born and raised in Ireland and holds a master’s degree in political science from Cambridge University. As an officer in the British Royal Navy, he served all over the world before being selected for royal duty. He is a citizen of the U.K., U.S.A., Ireland, and Canada.