Tech Connect Roundtable Explores AI Architecture

We hosted the first event of our Tech Connect AI trilogy on Wednesday 6 May, bringing together senior IT professionals from Member firms for a roundtable discussion on AI architecture in financial services.

Held at The Royal Yacht Hotel, the session was facilitated by Dr Danica Damljanovic, Founder of Sentient Machines, alongside Jonathan Clarke, our Fintech Lead. Dr Damljanovic brought extensive experience in AI to the discussion, drawing on her background as an entrepreneur, PhD research scientist and computer engineer.

The event explored the architectural choices firms face as they move from AI experimentation towards practical adoption. Discussions focussed on what is driving decisions in practice, what is working and where firms are encountering challenges as they balance control, cost, complexity and risk.

Key themes included retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), agentic workflows, platform choices, data residency, vendor lock-in, build-versus-buy decisions and the importance of governance and human oversight when applying AI in a financial services context.

This session marked the first in our ‘Making AI Work: Architecture, Integration, Governance’ trilogy for Tech Connect in 2026, with future events set to explore AI integration and governance in more depth.

If you’re interested in joining Tech Connect, contact Jonathan Clarke.