As the 2024 Money Management Institute (MMI) Annual Conference kicked off at Charlotte, North Carolina’s The Sheraton & Le Méridien Charlotte Hotel Complex, Craig Pfeiffer, MMI’s President and CEO, took the stage alongside other leading organizers.
He was accompanied by Joan Lensing, MMI’s Executive Vice President and Chief Programming Officer; and conference Co-Chairs Kara Julian, Managing Director, Head of Consulting Group at Morgan Stanley; and Brad Jung, Managing Director, Head of North America, Advisor and Intermediary Solutions at Russell Investments.
Pfeiffer noted that, with 648 people onsite as of the opening of the conference, it was the best attended MMI Annual Conference in history. This year’s conference boasts 190 firms represented, 75 speakers and 27 partners, sponsors and exhibitors.
AI Keynote
Laura Edell, Chief Data Scientist, AI Markets & Innovation at Microsoft, gave the first keynote of the conference, titled “AI Adventures, Missteps, and Triumphs: How to Stumble Successfully, but Not Fall into the Mistake Zone.” Her presentation brought advisors and other professionals in the audience up to speed on AI, including the distinction between generative AI, traditional AI, deep learning algorithms and neural networks.
She walked listeners through the process of fine tuning generative AI, evaluation of produced content and the avoidance of bias in content. With multiple examples of how AI has been leveraged in fields as different as healthcare, recipes and farming, Edell demonstrated both what is possible and where the drawbacks may lie, especially in unconscious and implicit bias.
Edell concluded, “Remember to bring your grandmother with you,” meaning that AI still needs the human element that cannot and should not be removed from its use.
Data Science And AI
Immediately following the keynote, Will Karkar, Senior Partner, Head of Strategic Growth at Alpha FMC, moderated a panel discussion titled, “Data Science & AI: What’s Happening Today.”
The discussion featured panelists Katie D’Angelo, Managing Director, Head of Global Relationship Management, Intermediary Sales at Allspring Global Investments; Marshall McDonald, Head of AI Strategy and Transformation at LPL Financial, and David Wu, Managing Director, Head of AI Product and Architecture Strategy at Morgan Stanley. The panelists transitioned the keynote on AI into a practical discussion of how AI and data science directly serve wealth management.
D’Angelo said that her firm had been using data science for 20 years, and its current AI uses include a system called “CASPR,” an acronym for “computer aided stock portfolio research.” CASPR learns a portfolio manager’s style and recommends new names to the manager based on what it learned, also spotlighting names already in the portfolio that may no longer match the manager’s style.
“We try to create signal from the noise,” she said, referring to finding actionable information from the “noise” of unstructured data.
Wu said that his firm has been using AI to determine an advisor’s “next best action” for years, and AI has increased the firm’s velocity of work, client satisfaction and retention, and firm revenues. He described another AI-based tool his firm uses that provides meeting notes and action points from client meetings, as well as drafts of follow-up emails for the clients, which can save up to an hour of advisor time.
Comparing AI to the implementation of the computer into the workplace of the ’90s, Wu said he wants to ensure that advisors can work with AI by 2027.
McDonald said his firm employs AI for compliant marketing, lead generation, client onboarding and practice management. Similar to Wu, McDonald described a firm process that allows an advisor to leverage AI to prepare for, conduct and follow up on client meetings. He said that some advisors are more reluctant to adopt AI, while others are actively building it into their workflows.
McDonald pointed out that AI can be used to enable corporate goals, including measuring service and experience, building scale and efficiency, and building out client service functions.
Julius Buchanan, Editor in Chief at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at jbuchanan@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
