Designing the Exit-Ready Tech Stack: Invite-Only Tech Forum
A bank can run its AI in Europe and still be dependent on systems it cannot easily leave.
The third and final part of HoFT Berlin’s AI Trilogy looks at what it actually means for a bank to retain control over its AI stack — from data and model weights to encryption keys, compute, orchestration and the ability to exit when circumstances change.
Not every layer needs to be owned. But every dependency needs to be deliberate.
Together with DKB, we will examine where banks have genuine freedom to choose, and where sovereignty exists more on paper than in practice.
What happens when a cloud provider is switched, a model is discontinued or prices change sharply? And what does a bank need to control to keep its options open?
Agenda
16:30 — Registration & welcome drinks
17:00 — Welcome by DKB & HoFT Berlin
17:10 — Keynote by Dr. Sven Deglow, Chairman of the DKB Executive Board
17:30 — Impulse: Sovereign AI infrastructure
A perspective on the infrastructure behind sovereign AI in financial services.
17:40 — Impulse: The public perspective
What the state expects, certifies and builds itself.
17:50 — Panel: “Show me the exit path.”
What happens when a bank needs to switch cloud providers, move away from a model or respond to a sharp change in pricing? A discussion across banking, infrastructure, models and AI orchestration — with Sascha Kloss, Co-Lead AI & Data / Senior VP Business Intelligence, DKB
18:40 — Open floor & live poll
What is a reasonable price for sovereignty?
19:00 — Dinner & networking
20:00 — Close
Further speakers and contributors will be announced over the coming weeks.
What you’ll take away
What a bank must control: weights, data, keys, compute, orchestration, audit trail: which layers to own and which to rent deliberately
The exit path, tested: what happens when a cloud provider is switched, a model is discontinued or prices change drastically
Model-agnostic by design: how the orchestration layer keeps a bank able to switch models and providers
Free in practice or on paper: hyperscaler sovereign regions, German cloud and European models under the same test
The price of sovereignty: which level of control is worth paying for
Who should attend
Bank leaders, CIOs and CTOs, AI and infrastructure heads, procurement and vendor-management teams, risk leads, and fintech founders deciding where their AI runs.
Details:
📅 Monday, December 7, 2026
📍 Berlin · Location shared upon registration · Limited seats
🎟️ Members: Complimentary access. Your codes will be sent soon · Non-members: EUR 19
Part of the AI Trilogy 2026 — “Trustworthy AI for Financial Wellbeing: Govern it. Apply it. Own it.”
The trilogy began with the question of how AI can be governed responsibly, moved to how financial institutions can put it to work, and now arrives at the harder question: can they still control it when it matters?
Register now to reserve your seat. Registrations are subject to approval.