Why AI deployments in finance stall

July 2026

Whether a deployment works depends on how well you understand the business it goes into. Most fail because that step gets skipped. Someone buys a capable model, points it at a vague problem, and waits for a return that never arrives.

In a big financial firm the build is rarely the hard part, and it's rarely yours to do. You don't want an investment desk writing its own software. You need someone who can work out what the team actually needs, often something they can't put into words, decide what's worth building, and run the build around them.

The other problem is risk, legal and compliance, the people paid to say no. Their objection is usually reputational risk and nobody wanting to own a decision that might go wrong. So half the job is making the decision safe to take. You build the consensus and you hand the people with a veto something they can sign.

I've worked both ends. I took digital assets into Baillie Gifford from nothing, dealing with the FCA directly and with risk, legal and compliance in-house. And I built the systems that run my own company, so I know what a build costs.

The order that works is to understand the business, find the real requirement, then build. Firms that start with the tool get a demo and not much else.

I advise financial firms on putting AI to work. me@yussefrobinson.uk