We’d love to open as usual by saying that it was another active week in financial artificial intelligence, but to be honest, it felt like we took a Presidents Day-enhanced breather. Not that there isn’t still plenty to talk about in AI & Finance, but we’ve eased a bit off the breakneck pace established over the past few weeks.
We want to ask you a question today:
Are we ready to AI all the things in financial services? Not just the repetitive tasks, and not just the superficial stuff like chatting with wayward website visitors. All of it is ripe for disruption. But are we ready to do it?
Just how is generative AI going to disrupt knowledge work moving forward? Well, I like to think of the medical profession, one we certainly could never automate, right? Medicine, academically speaking, can be thought of as a huge series of flow charts, where data like symptoms and test results inform decisions, that lead to more data, and more decisions, until the patient is disposed of, hopefully well and ambulatory.
Machines have been capable of doing that kind of work long before the advent of artificial intelligence.
There are crucial human elements to practicing medicine, though, which may include capabilities like understanding your patients and the resources available to them, and then optimizing and personalizing care, or understanding the flow of patients and the acuity of their illness in clinical care, and managing the resources at your disposal to provide the highest possible level of care to as many people as possible.
Machines weren’t able to help doctors and nurses in that kind of work before the advent of artificial intelligence. Now, they can, and they can potentially perform this work unsupervised—but that doesn’t mean that doctors and nurses are going to be displaced. We might not even want machines to do that kind of work unsupervised, right?
We’ve never bought the idea that artificial intelligence is going to rapidly displace everybody and everything—but it will disrupt. Some people will see themselves displaced faster than others. Some old, inefficient ways of doing things will last long after their time is up.
Think of the automobile—for a decade or two after cars entered mass production, horses and buggies were still a relatively common sight in most towns across the country, and today, if you live near Amish country, you’re still seeing plenty of horse-powered travel.
We once lived in an area with horse hitches at the local Walmart. We felt inclined to trust the Amish. The common image of the Amish is simple, and therefore, honest—but Amish people are anything but simple, full of the same impulses towards good and evil and all the complexities of the people inhabiting modern society around them, including inclinations among a minority towards crime and shady business practices.
Inexorably, the service providers and clients who cling to old ways of doing things will come to be thought of similarly to the way modern society thinks of the Amish.
Think of the asset management industry as a good example. The active versus passive debate continues, though passive management seems to have won out as the best option for long-term investors with few disposable assets.
AI is already capable of doing everything an active portfolio or fund manager can do in any asset class or combination of asset classes, at any level, over any period of time, explainably and with impeccable honesty and trustworthiness, while completely unsupervised.
But do we want it to? And if we don’t, just how simple do we look to others?
Let’s get to your AI & Finance headlines.
1. Algebrik AI
Algebrik AI Inc., a Delaware-incorporated company headquartered in New York City, pioneering the world’s 1st cloud-native, AI-powered, digital-era Loan Origination Platform (LOS), today announced an integration agreement with Corelation, a leading provider of core processing solutions for credit unions.
This collaboration enables Algebrik’s advanced LOS to seamlessly work with Corelation’s KeyStone core system, offering credit unions additional capabilities to optimize their lending processes and enhance member engagement.
This collaboration reinforces the commitment of both organizations to support credit unions with modern, data-driven lending solutions. By leveraging integration of Algebrik’s AI-powered LOS with Corelation’s KeyStone core system, credit unions can enhance operational efficiency, refine member experiences, and navigate evolving next-gen members’ expectations with agility.
2. Carefull
Carefull, the award-winning financial safety service built to protect credit union members from elder fraud, the latest scams, and money mistakes, is proud to announce a strategic partnership with Merck Employees Federal Credit Union (MEFCU). As fraud reaches unprecedented levels, MEFCU is taking action to enhance member experience and security by offering Carefull’s unique suite of proactive account monitoring, identity protection, and issue resolution services to all members, their parents, and even next-generation caregivers.
With scams becoming more sophisticated and financial crimes specifically targeting older members, credit unions are facing increasing pressure to ensure their members remain secure. Many members—particularly older adults—do not regularly check their accounts, leaving them vulnerable to unnoticed fraud and unauthorized transactions. Carefull’s 24/7 account monitoring, alerts, and expert support give MEFCU members an additional layer of security and peace of mind.
This collaboration underscores MEFCU’s commitment to safeguarding its members, aligning with the credit union philosophy of “people helping people.” Beyond fraud prevention, MEFCU sees Carefull as an opportunity to enhance the overall member experience, helping credit unions deepen trust and strengthen member relationships.
3. Corridor Platforms
Corridor Platforms (https://www.corridorplatforms.com), the pioneer in AI governance solutions, announces a partnership with Google Cloud to help financial institutions unlock the full potential of customer-facing GenAI applications while adhering to rigorous regulatory and compliance standards.
Financial institutions have made substantial investments in Gen AI capabilities, yet face significant challenges in deploying high ROI customer-facing applications such as agent assist and Conversational IVR solutions. As banks’ Model Risk Management and Compliance teams grapple with novel Gen AI risks without regulatory precedents, Corridor’s GenGuardX (https://ggx.corridorplatforms.com) platform emerges as a comprehensive solution designed by industry experts to bridge the gap between innovation and risk management.
GGX delivers a Responsible AI Governance Platform that streamlines collaboration, ensures auditability, and helps set and maintain robust governance standards. GGX addresses traditional risks as well as emerging risks such as hallucinations, PII leakage, new fair lending biases, jailbreaking vulnerabilities, and more. By combining out-of-the-box standardized evaluation metrics with continuous human-in-the-loop oversight, GGX empowers financial institutions to move from experimentation to production with confidence. Its robust post-production monitoring ensures that deployed solutions remain compliant and trustworthy while delivering high ROI at scale.
4. DiligentIQ
DiligentIQ, the leading AI-powered platform for conducting private equity due diligence, has raised up to $12 million in a two-tranche Series A funding round led by FINTOP Capital and partner JAM FINTOP. The investment will be used to scale DiligentIQ’s team and operations as it expands its presence in private markets. It will also accelerate product innovation, expand integrations, and scale go-to-market efforts.
DiligentIQ is a generative AI platform that is tailored to support the nuanced needs of private market investment professionals as they evaluate deal opportunities. The technology securely ingests deal documents typically found in virtual data rooms (VDRs) while rapidly analyzing and categorizing them to extract critical insights. By delivering clear, actionable intelligence, and reducing the need for manual workflows, DiligentIQ enables investment teams to digest complex information and identify opportunities and risks with greater speed and accuracy.
The company was founded by Ed Brandman, former Partner, Chief Information Officer and Head of Credit Operations at global investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR). After a career in private markets, Ed recognized the potential for generative AI to address the tight time constraints and the vast amounts of data inherent in due diligence processes by streamlining analytical workflows.
5. EY
The EY organization today announces a strategic alliance between Zscaler, Inc., a leader in cloud security, and Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) (Alliance). The Alliance aims to help address network architecture challenges with secured and simplified cloud-delivered services.
Through the Alliance, EY US leverages Zscaler’s services to help strengthen the security posture of institutions and build a more resilient infrastructure against cyberattacks. With more organizations choosing to go mobile and digital, this strategic partnership is designed to help clients extend their network and security capabilities, creating fast and secure connections between users and applications, independent of device, location or network.
By combining EY teams’ consulting experience with Zscaler’s flagship cloud security solution, the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange™ platform, the Alliance aims to help support the development of a modern workplace by helping safely and securely navigate digital transformation journeys toward a mobile and cloud-first world.
6. FutureProof Technologies
FutureProof Technologies, a venture-backed insurtech startup, is excited to announce the launch of the FutureProof Insurance Agency, a wholly-owned subsidiary designed to enhance insurance distribution through AI-driven risk selection.
FutureProof Insurance Agency sells policies on behalf of dozens of carrier partners across the U.S. This strategic expansion builds upon FutureProof’s launch and successful track record of its AI-enabled property Managing General Agent (MGA) last year, further solidifying FutureProof’s role as a leading innovator in the insurance industry.
Whereas FutureProof’s MGA employs artificial intelligence to better select and price risk in catastrophe-exposed geographies, FutureProof Insurance Agency utilizes key aspects of FutureProof’s risk management technology to ensure that it sells profitable policies on behalf of its carrier partners. This additional risk filter allows FutureProof’s agency to provide unique value by aiming to generate profitable portfolios for its carrier partners. This addresses a major pain point for carriers that sometimes struggle with agencies that generate low-performing business. To support these efforts, FutureProof has also launched a lead generation and lead distribution operation to produce high-quality leads that turbocharge production of profitable business.
7. Glassbox
Glassbox, a Toronto-based fintech startup, announced today that it has raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding to reimagine how finance teams work with spreadsheets in the age of AI. The round was led by FinTech Collective (New York) and StandUp Ventures (Toronto), with participation from Watertower Ventures (Los Angeles). The fresh capital will be used to expand Glassbox’s team and bring its AI-compatible financial analysis platform to market.
For decades, corporate finance workflows have relied on clunky spreadsheets, long hours, and error-prone manual processes. While other industries have begun embracing real-time collaboration tools and AI-powered assistants, finance teams have been left with little more than bigger, more complex Excel files. Glassbox aims to change that.
Glassbox’s solution is centered around a new framework it calls FinScript. Rather than building financial models and analysis with traditional spreadsheet formulas, users can input plain text instructions that align with large language models’ (LLMs) capabilities for processing written information. This approach adds context and structure to data and enables faster, more auditable analysis while maintaining compatibility with existing Excel-based processes.
8. Gradient AI
Gradient AI, a leading enterprise software provider of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions in the insurance industry, today announced that North Carolina League of Municipalities(NCLM) has successfully implemented Gradient AI’s SAIL™ solution to enhance its underwriting processes and decision-making capabilities.
NCLM is a nonprofit organization that administers several self-insured pools, including the Health Benefits Trust, which provides benefits to North Carolina local governments.
Powered by advanced machine learning algorithms and a comprehensive dataset that includes medical, prescription, and lab data, Gradient AI’s SAIL delivers enriched risk insights. This enhanced visibility enables NCLM to distinguish between groups of similar size but with vastly different risk profiles—an analysis its previous statistical models could not provide.
9. Options Technology
Options Technology, a trailblazer in capital markets infrastructure, today announced the successful deployment of Cboe Hanweck’s European option analytics data feed across its infrastructure. This deployment significantly enhances the company’s volatility analytics capabilities for European market participants, complementing Options’ existing US-based feeds and further solidifying its position as a premier provider of real-time market and analytics data.
The integration of the Cboe Hanweck European option analytics data feed brings a new dimension to Options’ advanced tools for analyzing equity and commodity volatility, including implied volatility, option Greeks and theoretical prices. This expanded data offering will empower clients with deeper insights into market trends, improve risk management, and enhance trading strategies in both the US and EU markets.
Cboe Hanweck is a leading provider of option-risk analytics with a real-time, data-enabled, global, cross-asset, risk-analytics platform. It is part of Cboe’s Data Vantage business, which offers a comprehensive and holistic array of data, analytics, and execution services for each stage in the lifecycle of a transaction.
10. Q2 Holdings
Q2 Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: QTWO), a leading provider of digital transformation solutions for financial services, announced today the appointment of Andre Mintz to its board of directors, effective March 1, 2025, and as a member of the Audit Committee and the Risk and Compliance Committee of Q2’s Board of Directors. Mintz brings over three decades of global experience in technology, cybersecurity and privacy, serving in senior-level positions at Meta, Newport Group, Microsoft, Reuters and other leading companies.
Mintz is currently Vice President of Global Security & Privacy Programs and DMA Head of Compliance at Meta (Facebook). Prior to joining Meta, Mintz was Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of Newport Group, a financial services company and leading provider of retirement plans, corporate insurance and consulting services, with over $500 billion in assets under administration. Previously, he served as Executive Vice President at Red Ventures, a $10 billion portfolio of digital companies, where he held the combined global roles of CISO and Chief Privacy Officer (CPO). Mintz also served as Vice President and Chief Security Officer at Reuters, Director of Trustworthy Computing & Chief Security Strategist at Microsoft, and he was Kinko’s first Chief Information Security Officer.
Mintz co-founded Meta Security Group in 1998 (acquired by Scalable Software in 2005), and he was appointed to serve on Microsoft’s World-Wide Chief Security Officer’s Council in 2003. Mintz also served on the Board of Directors of the Cloud Security Alliance, a non-profit organization that promotes best practices for providing security assurance within cloud computing. Mintz previously served on the Board of Directors of Absolute Software Corporation from August 2021 until July 2023. He is a US Air Force veteran, a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, a Certified Third Party Risk Professional, a graduate of the FBI Chief Information Security Officer’s Academy and holds a Graduate Certificate in Cybersecurity from Harvard University.
11. 73 Strings
73 Strings, the financial intelligence platform using AI to revolutionize data extraction, monitoring, and valuation for the $17.6 Trillion AUM Alternative Asset Management space, has successfully closed a $55m Series B.
The round was led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, with continued investment from Blackstone Innovations Investments and participation from Golub Capital, Hamilton Lane (Nasdaq: HLNE) and Broadhaven Ventures, solidifying 73 Strings’ reputation as the trusted partner in enabling faster, more automated, and higher-frequency valuation and monitoring processes.
Trusted by the largest alternative asset managers in the world, with clients who manage nearly $10 trillion in assets (AUM), 73 Strings’ platform enables the delivery of faster, more frequent valuations with enhanced transparency, superior data accuracy, and actionable intelligence—all at the click of a button. This is the only solution without any independence or service conflicts seamlessly serving both equity and credit.
12. Smarsh
Smarsh, the global leader in communications data and intelligence, today announced the appointment of David Brolsma as Chief Financial Officer. Brolsma will have an expanded leadership role at Smarsh and oversee global finance, accounting, corporate development, integrations, and internal operations. He will leverage his expertise in IPOs, M&A, international regulatory compliance, revenue efficiency, and operations to help guide the company through its next stage of growth.
Brolsma’s appointment comes on the heels of recognition from Gartner as a leader in the Digital Communications Governance and Archiving Solutions Magic Quadrant and Smarsh’s 17th consecutive appearance on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies list. With a strong communications compliance foundation and a cloud-native, AI-enabled platform, Smarsh is entering its next growth phase. This comes at a time when Smarsh customers in highly regulated industries, including 90% of the top global institutions, face rapid technological advancement and complex global regulatory requirements. In this challenging landscape, the Smarsh Platform empowers organizations to stay ahead by leveraging communications data to surface risk and critical business insights at scale.
Brolsma has over 20 years of experience with both high-growth technology companies like WP Engine and Rackspace and established publicly traded multinationals, including Valero Energy and EY, leading international finance, revenue, and governance roles based in Europe and the U.S. Most recently, David served as CFO & SVP of WP Engine, Inc., a large-scale hosting service owned by private equity firm Silver Lake, where he led multiple technology acquisitions. Before WP Engine, Brolsma was Vice President & General Manager at Rackspace, Inc., the open cloud company, where he spearheaded the company’s successful IPO, as well as its global expansion strategy. Brolsma holds an MS in Accounting from the University of Texas at San Antonio.
13. Snappy Kraken
Snappy Kraken, the martech innovator powering simpler, smarter advisor marketing, today announced two platform enhancements designed to deliver AI-driven campaign automation and insights, streamline marketing activity and accelerate growth for both enterprises and individual advisors. Built for mid-market and enterprise firms, including registered investment advisors (RIAs), broker-dealers and independent marketing organizations (IMOs), the Enterprise Hub provides control over and visibility into their advisors’ marketing activities, leveraging AI-powered insights and analytics to optimize campaign management across large organizations. The refreshed Campaigns App, targeted toward individual advisors, streamlines campaign selection and creation while providing improved data analytics and reporting on campaign performance and contact activity.
Following the release of Snappy Kraken Enterprise, a comprehensive marketing technology solution specifically designed for enterprises, the new Enterprise Hub offers large financial services organizations complete flexibility, control and robust data analytics over their advisors’ marketing activities. It streamlines marketing operations, compliance and reporting to drive scalable growth across large firms.
With the release of the Enterprise Hub and the all-new Campaigns App, Snappy Kraken is further equipping enterprises and advisors with technology that streamlines and scales marketing operations; provides in-depth, AI-driven data analytics; and accelerates firm growth.
14. Socure
Socure, the leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI) for digital identity verification, compliance and fraud prevention, today announced the general availability of its new RiskOS platform. RiskOS builds on Socure’s strategic acquisition of Effectiv by integrating its sophisticated orchestration and decisioning engine with Socure’s market-leading identity verification and fraud prevention solutions powered by its industry-leading identity graph.
As fraud continues to cost businesses hundreds of billions each year, fragmented strategies and isolated point solutions are no longer enough to combat increasingly sophisticated fraud tactics and evolving regulatory pressures. RiskOS transforms risk decisioning—delivering the industry’s most powerful platform, processing tens of thousands of real-time computations per second and launching with over 50 pre-integrated third-party data solutions. Streamlining risk, fraud, and compliance operations through its no-code interface, making rule changes, adding new third party solutions to a workflow or changing decisioning logic can be done in just minutes vs weeks or months.
Identity certainty is at the heart of every RiskOS decision, and by leveraging Socure’s proprietary consortium made up of more than 4 billion known outcomes from over 2,800 customers across more than 40 industries, Socure’s AI benefits from extensive reinforcement learning. It has a 96.4% identity recurrence rate, meaning the majority of identities have been seen and previously verified within the network. With 314 million recurring identities, Socure’s best-in-class entity resolution and proprietary data provide a holistic view of risk, including verified devices, emails, phone numbers, transaction history, and behavioral analytics. Each customer’s identity is mapped to a unique SocureID, enabling proactive alerts on identity changes, fraud risks, and sanction exposure over time. RiskOS represents a fundamental shift in how enterprises can quickly decision off of any Socure product, any dataset, at any point in the customer journey—with the highest degree of certainty in the industry, and without writing a single line of code.
15. SRA Watchtower
Financial technology platform SRA Watchtower, announced today the completion of a new $4 million funding round, led by existing investors FINTOP Capital, JAM FINTOP, and EJF Capital. This funding round follows the successful acquisition of Lumio Insight, further supporting the company’s growth and expansion.
This funding will build upon the recently acquired Lumio Insight application suite with its advanced data management and analytics capabilities to create AI-powered ‘Risk Insights’. The seamless integration of these technologies will streamline and automate data ingestion into Watchtower’s risk engine, enabling transformative reporting and configurable dashboards that deliver actionable insights.
16. Swap
Swap, the e-commerce operating system (OS) that consolidates global operations within one platform for e-commerce brands, today announced a strategic partnership with Signifyd, a leader in fraud and abuse prevention. Swap and Signifyd will work together to deliver the most secure cross-border platform on the market. By integrating Signifyd’s Commerce Protection Platform with Swap Global, merchants can scale internationally with confidence, benefiting from clear and predictable total costs, reduced fraud risks, and optimized checkout experiences.
Cross-border commerce presents unique challenges for e-commerce brands – from unexpected costs and fraud risks to compliance issues and operational inefficiencies. Recognizing these challenges, Swap is partnering with Signifyd to address these pain points by offering a fully integrated solution that streamlines global expansion while protecting merchants from financial risk.
As of today, merchants can now scale internationally with confidence by streamlining cross-border logistics and compliance through Swap, and mitigating fraud risk through Signifyd. Signifyd’s AI-powered fraud detection protects checkout conversion by approving more legitimate transactions while blocking fraudulent ones, backed by financial guarantees against chargebacks. This, combined with Swap’s transparent landed costs and operational efficiencies, allows the two companies to eliminate hidden fees, reduce cart abandonment, and maximize revenue, while ensuring seamless, secure global expansion.
17. TIFIN
TIFIN AMP Inc. (“TIFIN AMP”), an AI-powered distribution intelligence platform, is excited to announce a strategic relationship with Ares Wealth Management Solutions (“AWMS”), the global private wealth platform of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE: ARES) (“Ares”). Through this relationship, TIFIN will provide AWMS an AI-powered solution designed to enhance the productivity of AWMS’ distribution teams and support accelerated growth across the U.S. advisor-sold channel by delivering targeted solutions and helping align sales and marketing efforts with the most impactful opportunities.
This partnership highlights the growing role of AI in reshaping how asset managers engage with advisors, enhance productivity and enable more personalized client experiences. Together, TIFIN AMP and Ares are focused on delivering smarter, more efficient distribution strategies to meet the evolving needs of the wealth management industry.
18. Upstart
Upstart (NASDAQ: UPST), the leading AI lending marketplace, today announced that Peter Bernard has been appointed to the company’s Board of Directors.
Peter currently serves as the Board Chair of Barclays Bank, U.S. He is former chief operating officer at Root Capital, a nonprofit social investment fund. From 2006 through 2013, he was a managing director and chief risk officer of D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P. in New York. Prior to 2006, he held a variety of roles in finance and financial software, including chief financial officer at RiskMetrics, a risk management software company spun out of J.P. Morgan that was later acquired by MSCI, and president and co-founder of New Bond Trading, a Boston-based investment management firm. Early in his career, Peter spent 15 years in New York and London at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., which he joined after graduating from Bowdoin.
19. Upstart
Holyoke Credit Union (Holyoke), a Massachusetts state-chartered credit union, has announced its partnership with Upstart (NASDAQ: UPST), the leading artificial intelligence (AI) lending marketplace, to offer personal loans to more consumers.
Holyoke Credit Union became an Upstart Referral Network lending partner in December 2024. With the Upstart Referral Network, qualified personal loan applicants on Upstart.com who meet Holyoke’s credit policies will receive tailored offers as they seamlessly transition into a Holyoke-branded experience to complete the online member application and closing process.
20. ValidMind
Experian, a leading global data and technology company, and ValidMind, a leader in model risk management solutions, today announced a strategic partnership designed to transform how financial institutions manage regulatory compliance, operational risk and model governance.
The partnership combines the advanced data, analytics and modelling power of the Experian Ascend Platform with ValidMind’s leading solution for model governance and documentation automation. The integrated solution addresses some of the most pressing challenges that financial institutions face, including regulatory compliance, operational inefficiencies, and the need for scalable governance solutions.
The solution automates and streamlines key aspects of model risk management, including model documentation, validation, and governance, significantly increasing consistency and reducing the risk and time required to meet compliance requirements, such as SR 11-7, E-23, SS1/23, and the EU AI Act. By integrating AI into customizable templates, financial institutions can ensure consistent, high-quality documentation and streamlined regulatory submissions.
21. Zeplyn
Zeplyn, the AI assistant for financial advisors, today announced that Kabir Sethi, former Chief Product Officer of LPL Financial and a senior technology executive at Merrill Lynch, has joined the company’s board.
With a distinguished 20-year career in wealth management technology, Sethi has played an instrumental role in shaping the digital transformation of the financial services industry. In his role at LPL Financial, he led the evolution of the firm’s digital and wealth management platforms. At Merrill Lynch, Sethi spearheaded the firm’s digital wealth management strategy, driving the development of a new and leading advisor platform experience and innovations in advisor-client collaboration. Prior to that, he led the development of digital products, user experience, and portfolio management solutions that empowered financial advisors and their clients.
On the heels of this announcement, Sethi will join Zeplyn at T3 Technology Conference in Dallas, TX. During a panel discussion scheduled to take place March 6, 2025 at 2:20 pm CST, he will share strategic AI insights that are making real, scalable impact at forward-looking wealth management firms. Sethi will also provide guidance for CTOs looking to use AI as a way to drive innovation, enhance client experiences, improve operational efficiency, and unlock new growth opportunities.
22. Zest AI
Zest AI, a leading financial technology and artificial intelligence company, today announced the appointment of Esther Kahng as Head of Public Policy and Chief of Staff. In this role, Kahng will serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO and lead the company’s engagement with policymakers and regulatory bodies, drawing on her extensive experience in financial services policy and legislation.
Kahng joins Zest AI following a distinguished career spanning over a decade on Capitol Hill, most recently serving as Chief Counsel to the House Financial Services Committee under Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA). During her tenure, she was at the forefront of legislative and regulatory efforts around financial technology and AI, working to support advances in technology that benefit consumers and community banks.
Prior to her role as Chief Counsel, Kahng served in other senior positions within the House Financial Services Committee, including Director of Housing and Insurance Policy and Senior Counsel, demonstrating exceptional leadership in driving a proactive legislative agenda and moving bipartisan legislation.
