AI in Financial Services | Speakers from Bank of England, AWS, Blackrock, NatWest + more
Join hedge fund managers, a quantitative professional from Tower Research, and speakers from the Bank of England, BlackRock, AWS, NatWest, Commerzbank and Rainbird Technologies for a conference exploring how AI is changing finance.
Across two panels, we’ll discuss how firms are building and governing AI, the risks and limitations of the technology, and how investors are using it in research and the search for alpha.
You’ll also have the chance to ask questions and meet the speakers alongside students and professionals from across finance and technology.
📍 Jeffery Hall, UCL, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL
📅 Saturday 21 November 2026
Presented by Gwïon Owen in collaboration with Royal Holloway, University of London.
Supported by LSE FinTech, which has supported 20+ start-ups; LSE Advisory, a 200+ member society spanning corporate finance and political strategy; Imperial VC & PE, co-organisers of a European restructuring competition with 500+ students; and Warwick Trading, a 400+ member society with a quant division and sponsors including Jane Street and Quantbot.
Our speakers include:
Sherif Doherty
Tower Research Capital, Quant Developer
Sherif is a former JP Morgan Associate Software Engineer who now works as a quantitative developer at Tower Research Capital
Surojit Chakraverti
Third Wave Capital, Founder & Chief Investment Officer
Third Wave Capital deploys a strategy focused on long/short healthcare and technology equities. Surojit previously worked in investment banking at Citi and Rothschild & Co.
Orlando Fernandez Ruiz
Bank of England, Senior Policy Specialist
Orlando is a Senior Policy Specialist at the Bank of England.
Lanre Afodunrinbi
AWS, Financial Services Industry (FSI) Solutions Architect
FSI at AWS build core, critical financial infrastructure to support banking, capital markets, insurance, and electronic payments.
Mari Parry
BlackRock, Principal AI Engineer
BlackRock are widely considered an industry leader for AI in financial services and utilise AI in many ways cross-firm.
Soung Low
NatWest, AI Safety and Evaluations
Soung works at NatWest, one of the UK's largest banks, as a lead model risk data scientist.
Ben Taylor
Rainbird Technologies, CTO / Co-Founder
Rainbird build deterministic, auditable AI that allows companies like EY and BDO to automate processes and decisions consistently.
David Wharton, CFA
Founder, Thornvale Capital; formerly Investec
David founded Thornvale Capital, which acts as an investment adviser to the fund.
Moderators:
Jon Bernstein
Freelance Tech Journalist, formerly New Statesman and Channel 4 News
Henry Li
Student Content Creator (16k+ followers), AI and Tech Culture
Organiser:
Gwïon Owen
Lead Organiser
Economics Student, Royal Holloway, University of London
Gwïon is an economics student, national trading competition winner, and award-winning opera singer. He provides financial analysis for a property management firm, and has supported portfolios worth €13M.
Supported by:
Royal Holloway, University of London
Royal Holloway has historically been and continues to remain being a pioneer in computer science, information technology, and cybersecurity. In today's age, an understanding of the cross-disciplinary skills around information technology is crucial to build robust, dependable, and reliable autonomous systems.
Aideon Quek
Strategy and Marketing
Senior Software Engineer (Agentic AI, Open Banking)
Business and Management (Decision Science) Student, University of Bristol
Aideon builds AI systems for adults with disabilities that integrate with the UK Open Banking system while adhering to online banking regulations. Aideon uses a hybrid of generative, probabilistic, and deterministic AI, understanding key constraints of each.
© Nexeon 2026. Bill subject to change. Terms apply. All rights reserved. Nexeon is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Bank of England, BlackRock, NatWest, Rainbird Technologies, Commerzbank AG, Thornvale Capital, Grain Management, Macquire, Atomic Digital, or any other names or brands mentioned above unless explicitly mentioned.