PIMFA AI Summit 2026: Proving, Scaling and Governing AI in Wealth Management
London, EC1M 5NP United Kingdom
This half-day summit is part of PIMFA’s AI Programme, designed in partnership with Publicis Sapient, to help Wealth Management firms translate AI investments into revenue outcomes and sustainable competitive advantage.
Most firms have already proven AI can deliver value in isolated use cases. The next phase is scaling it across the enterprise and embedding it into how decisions are made across advice, portfolios and operations.
Competitive advantage will not come from productivity gains alone, but from the ability to make better decisions, faster and with greater control.
You’ll hear from peers and sector experts on:
Getting data and business context ready for scale
Overcoming fragmented, inconsistent data and enriching it with your firm’s understanding of clients, markets, products, policies and historical decisions to create a reliable foundation for AI
Orchestrating AI-driven decisioning systems
Embedding AI within advisor and operational workflows to augment decision-making with high-quality recommendations.
Scaling with governance and control
Putting in place the oversight, explainability and evidence regulators expect
Evolving the operating model to execute safely and at scale
Aligning business, technology and data teams, and enabling advisors, investment teams and operations functions to work effectively with AI to improve decisions and execution at scale
What to prioritise in 2027 and beyond
The capabilities, controls and workflow changes firms should focus on
Who should attend
This summit is relevant for senior decision makers across UK wealth management with responsibility for AI strategy, delivery and outcomes, including:
Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers and Chief Digital Officers
Chief Data & AI officers
Chief Operating Officers and Heads of Operations
Head of compliance and governance
Business line leaders across advice, trading and client service
Please note: Places are limited and designed for senior decision-makers of FCA-regulated firms. PIMFA reserves the right to decline registrations that are not aligned with the event’s seniority and focus.
Data sharing: By registering for this event, your registration details may be shared with the event partners for the purposes of event administration and relevant follow-up. You can opt out of partner communications at any time by contacting the relevant event partner directly.
08/10/2026
Arrival, coffee and networking
Welcome from PIMFA
Opening remarks from PIMFA on why AI has moved from curiosity to strategic imperative and why the next phase is about value, evidence and control.
Opening keynote - AI, risk and value creation in wealth management.
An industry perspective from Publicis Sapient on how AI is reshaping the wealth management sector, where firms are beginning to see value, and what leaders need to consider as adoption moves from experimentation to scale.
Practioners Panel 1 - Where AI is creating real traction now
A practical discussion on the AI use cases gaining traction across the front, middle and back office and where the hype is beginning to fall away.
Discussion themes:
- where firms are actually seeing early value
- which use cases are overhyped versus useful
- where productivity gains are credible
- what has improved decision-making, control or client outcomes
- where firms have struggled to move beyond experimentation
Live audience polling and benchmarking. Where is your firm really?
A short anonymous polling segment across the AI maturity curve. Participants will compare where their firm sits across areas such as:
- still exploring
- isolated pilots
- embedded in selected workflows
- measuring ROI
- scaling across functions
Networking break
Refreshments and informal discussion.
Sponsor case spotlight rotation
A curated rotation of short sponsor-led case spotlights, focused on practical implementation lessons rather than product demonstrations.
Each 10-minute spotlight will follow a fixed format:
- Problem – the business question or operational challenge
- Intervention – what was deployed and how
- Value – measurable outcomes and what was learned
- Control considerations – governance, risk and assurance points
These sessions are designed to show what practical AI adoption looks like in real operating environments.
No product walkthroughs.
No feature tours.
No sales pitches.
Practioners Panel 2 - From pilot to scale: ownership, operating model and evidence
This session examines what has to change when AI moves from experimentation into production. The panel will explore who leads, what changes, how firms prioritise investment, and what boards need to see before they support AI at scale.
Discussion themes include:
- Who owns AI?How accountability is distributed across board, C-suite and business lines, why that stalls programmes, and what good ownership looks like
- Where should firms prioritise? Which parts of the value chain offer the most credible near-term return with manageable risk
- When is a pilot ready to scale? The triggers and signals that show a firm is genuinely ready to move into production and the warning signs that it is not.
- What needs to change operationally? The data foundations, operating-model changes and change disciplines that separate meaningful progress from endless experimentation.
- What do boards need to see? How to frame ROI beyond cost reduction, and how to evidence controlled, compliant deployment.
Facilitated table discussion: What are firms prioritising next?
PIMFA-led discussion giving participants the opportunity to compare priorities, blockers and next steps with peers.
Discussion prompts include:
- which AI use case feels most immediate for your firm?
- what is the biggest blocker: data, governance, ownership, confidence or budget?
- what would your board need to see to support further investment?
- where does your firm need to build confidence before scaling?
Closing session: What senior leaders should do next
A closing conversation on what boards and senior leaders should prioritise over the next 6–12 months.
The session will consider:
- what distinguishes firms making progress from firms still circling
- what leaders should prioritise over the next 6–12 months
- what “credible AI adoption” looks like in wealth management
- where governance, ROI and organisational readiness now need to connect
Networking lunch
A final opportunity to continue the discussion with peers, speakers, sponsors and PIMFA.
Publicis Sapient
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