We asked some of the smartest minds in finance how Wall Street is going to chang
Source: Debra

What is the one thing that is going to change finance as we know it in the next decade?

Their answers varied, but there were a few common themes.

The old models are changing, technology is automating and customizing traditional processes, and the financial landscape will look drastically different in the future.

Here is what they had to say:
Debra Walton, chief product and content officer at Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters

"If I was forced to have to pick the one significant factor that could potentially have the greatest impact on the financial markets in the future, it would have to be the application and adoption of blockchain technologies.

"Pundits spread themselves across the entire spectrum of opinion on blockchain, some believing it is a non-event, others forecasting annihilation of the capital markets as we know them today.

"Sitting here in my office in Baar, Switzerland, in an area of the world rapidly emerging as the 'crypto currency' capital of Europe — I firmly believe that blockchain will have as profound effect on the world of business and commerce as the internet, which since the mid-1990s has of course had a revolutionary impact.

"The impact of blockchain will be most felt in how transactions are executed, cleared and settled."


David Reilly, CTO at Bank of America



David Reilly

"Automation. Every week in the news we read about a new application for artificial intelligence, machine learning, neural networks, or robots — whether it is self-driving cars, AI assistants, predictive models, robots building (or printing) hardware, or how to invest our money.

"Put these all in the category of automation — and that is what will impact finance the most in the next decade.

"It will change how we insure property, loan money, invest money, deliver technology, write research reports, and what professionals in financial services do every day. Our challenge will be how to differentiate ourselves and continue to deliver value to our clients as automation moves up the stack."



Sean Park, founder, chairman and CIO at Anthemis Group
Anthemis Group

"There isn't just one thing that is going to change finance as we know it in the next decade, but an accelerating confluence of a number of technological and cultural trends.

"Ubiquitous mobile computing, an exponential growth in data, and continuous advances in machine learning and AI — coupled with the coming of age of the Snapchat generation — will transform finance into an always-on, algorithmically driven industry. Delivering value to individuals and enterprises in this new world will take a very different sort of firm."