Insights

The arrival of capable AI systems in financial services has triggered a predictable reflex: build the business case around headcount reduction. It is a reflex worth resisting, not because efficiency doesn't matter, but because it optimises for the wrong thing at exactly the wrong moment. Investment management firms that treat AI primarily as a cost lever will achieve a one-time margin improvement that competitors can quickly replicate. Firms that treat AI as a thinking multip

Culture, AI, and the Forces You Don’t Control I’ve been giving considerable thought to the “dance” we are currently in with AI. This, I feel compelled to say, was not written using AI. Let me posit a hypothesis. Strategy sits atop the pyramid when it comes to effective corporate operations. While definitions vary, most strategic thinking follows a consistent pattern: strategy originates at the top of the organisation and becomes the rallying point for focus, resources

I wanted to share a perspective that has been forming as we spend more time with AI across our work and with clients. This is not about adoption. Most organisations have already moved past that point. It is about how well we understand and govern what is now being embedded into operations. Across the market, there is a consistent pattern. AI is being deployed broadly, but governance capability is not evolving at the same pace. That gap is beginning to surface as a real struct