AI offers the biggest employment opportunity asset management has ever seen and those who do not adequately prepare to adopt it will be rendered obsolete. That is the key message from a panel of asset management, digital communications and investment professionals speaking at ALFI’s 2017 conference in Luxembourg. Stephen Schutze, who sits on the board of Frankfurt-based asset management firm FinLab, can embrace technological advances to meet certain client needs as well as allowing more complex ideas to flourish. ‘Asset managers should think about using ‘robo advice’ tools for certain clients, so they can concentrate on big opportunities and it would give asset managers more time to focus on more complex strategies. ‘With robo advisers, you can just click and swipe, there’s no need to print anything off, and paper work is much easier when using these tools.’ However, keynote speaker, Baldwin Berges, founder of specialist AI consultancy BD-insider, said investors need to dispel the myth that technology drives people apart to better understand how it can be beneficial to asset management. ‘There are four mega trends defining our future and the way we live and work: virtual reality, global connectivity, big data and artificial intelligence,’ he said. ‘While we like to attribute human qualities to things, AI is not human. These new minds are learning how to think and we have to learn how to live with this. It’s not just taking away blue collar jobs, it’s taking away knowledge jobs. The machines are running rings around us.' Berges said, while AI cannot create human relationships, it can make humans smarter, impacting talent and skills education, marketing, product development, and recruitment. ‘How can you be a specialist when there is artificial intelligence? Tech is on the shelf and up for grabs, so the race is not about the technology but how we can make the human connection with technology. ‘It’s the biggest employment opportunity ever. We all have to be human, if we can use our emotional intelligence and human skills then tech can help us communicate with clients. Berges said AM firms must not misunderstand the purpose of tech and what can it do for relationships. ‘Fintech is thinking on the wrong path – they think we should put machines in front of people. It’s actually about learning how you can use tech to make better human connections. This will require new skills, humans still want to speak with humans.’
Artificial intelligence is the biggest opportunity asset managers have ever been presented with, according to speakers at the ALFI fintech conference in Frankfurt . The use of robo-advisers and automated investing strategies could release large investors from some day-to-day processes, allowing them to concentrate on bigger clients and more complicated investment plans, said Stephen Schutze of Baldwin Berges . BD , founder of AI firm Baldwin Berges -insider, said AI should be used to enhance relationships with clients, giving managers the opportunity to put their emotional stamp on products and services while leaving automation to deal with the "knowledge jobs".