Latest Thinking
Thoughts on AI, financial services, and the intersection of the two. Practical perspectives grounded in decades of experience.
AI Moves at the Speed of Clearance
In wealth management, compliance is rarely what slows AI down. Unclear boundaries do. The firms moving fastest build a clearance layer first.
Three Ways an AI Pilot Fails. Only One Is Fatal.
Most AI pilots in financial services fail in one of three ways. Two are recoverable and visible. The third looks like success, costs more every quarter, and is the one that actually kills the project.
The AI Productivity Number Lies. Read It Like a CFO.
Vendor productivity numbers are option grants disguised as savings. They tell the buyer what could happen, not what will. Here is the four-question CFO read that converts hours-saved claims into financial statements.
AI Did Not Change Your Compliance. It Changed Your Artefacts.
AI hasn't changed your obligations under ASIC, APRA, AUSTRAC or the Privacy Act. It has changed the artefacts you have to defend. Here is the translation layer every Australian financial services firm should build before shipping another AI tool.
Paraplanning in the Age of Agents: What Changes, What Doesn't
Paraplanning is not being eliminated by AI. It is being reshaped. The firms that understand how will have the sharpest paraplanning capability in the industry by 2028.
Build vs Buy: The Real AI Decision in Wealth Management
Build vs buy is the wrong question for AI in wealth management. The right question is layered. Here is the framework that keeps firms from getting it wrong.
AI ROI in Financial Services: What 25 to 40% Efficiency Actually Looks Like
Every AI vendor quotes a 25 to 40% efficiency number. Very few will show you where it comes from. Here is what it actually looks like inside a real financial services firm.
The AI Vendor Questionnaire Every Financial Services Firm Should Send
Most AI procurement in financial services skips the questions that actually matter. This is the questionnaire we send on behalf of clients. Steal it.
Why Most AI Pilots in Wealth Management Stall Before Production
Most AI pilots in wealth management do not stall because the model is weak. They stall because firms try to scale a demo before they build the operating conditions production requires.
Why Your CRM Is Your AI Strategy
The biggest single determinant of whether AI works in a financial services firm is the state of the CRM. Not the model, not the vendor, not the policy. The CRM.
The Moment Your AI Agent Stops Being a Demo
For Australian financial services firms, the real AI governance question starts when an agent can act, not just write. Here is the compliance-first model that keeps pace.
The Control Stack Every AI Agent Needs
AI agents in financial services do not fail because they are too autonomous. They fail because firms give them too much ambiguity and too little governance.
The Trust Layer Your AI Is Missing
Most firms treat AI trust as a feeling. The ones getting results treat it as infrastructure with four distinct components that must be built deliberately.
The Note-Taker Trap
AI note-taking is the industry's favourite first step. For too many firms, it has become the only step. Here is why that matters and what to do instead.
You Haven't Adopted AI. It's Adopted You.
AI is not arriving as a project. It is arriving as behaviour. Most growing businesses already have an AI stack they did not plan. The job now is to see it, sort it, and shape it.
Why We Started Unwired Wealth
The AI hype is deafening. The failure rates are staggering. And yet the opportunity for wealth management firms has never been greater. Here is why we built Unwired Wealth.