This Time Is Different: Why AI Is Unlike Any Wave I Have Seen In 40 Years Of Financial Services
Nigel Morris, a veteran of the financial services industry, argues that AI is unlike any wave of innovation he has seen in 40 years. He believes AI will become the operating system of global finance, rewriting the value chain end to end.
Intelligence analysis by Llama

AI is poised to revolutionize the financial services industry, with the potential to rewrite the value chain end to end. Nigel Morris, a veteran of the industry, believes that AI will become the operating system of global finance, unlocking new products and services that were previously impossible.
Imagine a world where computers can do tasks that humans used to do, like making loans or serving customers. This is what AI is doing in the financial services industry. It's like a superpower that's making it possible to create new products and services that were previously impossible.
Analysis
A $60B Vote of Confidence
Nigel Morris, a veteran of the financial services industry, has spent more than 40 years in the sector. He has learned to be skeptical of people heralding the word 'revolution.' However, he believes that AI is unlike any wave of innovation he has seen in 40 years. Morris argues that AI will become the operating system of global finance, rewriting the value chain end to end. He believes that AI will unlock new products and services that were previously impossible, and that it will have a significant impact on the financial services industry.
Why AI Is Different
Morris believes that AI is different from previous waves of innovation because it has the potential to rewrite the value chain end to end. He argues that AI will take the marginal cost to underwrite a loan, clear a compliance review, serve a customer at 2 a.m., and drive it toward zero. This will have a significant impact on the financial services industry, as it will unlock new products and services that were previously impossible.
The Road Ahead
Morris believes that the financial services industry will be systematically uprooted by AI, layer by layer. He argues that AI will unlock products that could not exist before, such as products tailored to a customer's specific needs, credit that moves with daily cash flows, and insurance priced to the individual rather than the actuarial average. He believes that the frontier of the buildable has moved further in three years than in the prior 20, and that founders catching this wave are turning that capability loose. Morris also believes that incumbent financial institutions should not be discounted, as they sit on the richest proprietary datasets in the economy, decades of transactions, balances, defaults, and recoveries that no fintech can buy.
Key points
- AI is poised to revolutionize the financial services industry
- AI will become the operating system of global finance
- AI will unlock new products and services that were previously impossible
- Incumbent financial institutions should not be discounted
- AI will have a significant impact on the financial services industry
If AI continues to develop and be adopted by the financial services industry, it could lead to the creation of new products and services that benefit consumers and businesses alike. It could also lead to increased efficiency and reduced costs for financial institutions.
If AI is not developed and adopted in a responsible and transparent way, it could lead to job losses and increased inequality. It could also lead to a loss of control over personal data and a decrease in financial inclusion.



