5th March 9am-5pm ET
The Future of Financial Services, Trends, Predictions and Opportunities
An AWS Digital Summit brought to you by
Within the financial services industries, 2025 continues to be a time of transformative shift, with organizations needing to demonstrate their malleability to meet increased customer expectations alongside intensified regulatory demands.
Traditional financial institutions, operating on legacy systems and outdated IT infrastructures, face immense pressure to modernize or risk being left behind.
Approaching these challenges requires collaboration and transparency as well as support for innovative solutions that will offer sustainable outcomes as this landscape continues to reshape. The advent of AI and machine learning (ML), offers new pathways on the digital transformation journey, but one that needs navigating with precision and care that offers stakeholders the security required in times of change. This one-day digital summit is designed to address these issues head-on, offering leaders and senior executives an in-depth look into the technologies and strategies defining the industry’s future.
Our morning sessions will be dedicated to exploring these themes through interactive presentations and discussions led by a dedicated team of experts and thought leaders from AWS. The summit will delve into three core themes:
Core Themes
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A robust data strategy is a crucial component within the industry given the vast amount of data generated. Transactions, customer interactions, markets activities and compliance requirements all provide reams of data assets that cloud-based analytics and AI/ML can uncover a host of new revenue streams from. “Unlocking” data stored within legacy systems and various data silos can help financial institutions maximize stability, profitability and growth. At the summit, leaders from AWS will showcase the most effective strategies for building robust data foundations and strategies for successful data monetization.
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AI is transforming customer experience (CX) within the financial industry by enhancing personalization, streamlining services, and improving operational efficiency. Reshaping the industry through elements of personalization, (tailored advice, dynamic pricing, behavioural insights), NLPs, proactive assistance, and streamlining onboarding and processes such as document automation and digital identity verification are just some of the ways positively leveraging AI and automation will significantly improve CX. Accompanying this is the impact on security within the industry; real-time fraud alerts and biometric authentication enhancing security and identifying patterns and unusual trends so intervention can occur earlier. Attendees will discuss and learn how to leverage AI to enhance CX and outstrip expectations.
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The financial services industry in 2025 is defined by unprecedented speed, flexibility, and creativity in product innovation. Driven by advances in technology, evolving customer expectations, and competitive pressures, a number of key trends and strategies are shaping rapid product innovation including Technology-driven Agility, Open finance Ecosystems, Customer-centric Design, Accelerated Product Lifecycles and the Integration of ESG and Impact Products to name a few. Challenges, however, remain around regulatory hurdles slowing growth as well as balancing innovation with security. At the summit, addressing and exploring opportunities such as leveraging real-time data for proactive product offerings and expansion into underserved markets will form part of the discussion.
Roundtable tracks
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Speaker: Dennis Waldron, Head of Financial Services Go-To-Market Strategy, Amazon Web Services
Strategic development can often happen ad hoc, in pockets and at different speeds across the business. Maturity and progress within your data strategy is typically dependent on existing infrastructures, cultures and ways of working – not to mention what technological, data-driven products are available to use internally and externally.
By treating data as a strategic asset, institutions can drive powerful analytic insights, enabling enterprise automation, intelligent decision-making and uncover new revenue streams. But given the speed at which data use is developing, do companies need a more coordinated approach to unlock and leverage the increasing volume of data? And what does that foundation need to look like in order for a robust data strategy to be a success?
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How predictive analytics, artificial intelligence, and advanced technologies such as NLPs and proactive assistance can, (and are), creating deeper customer insights and personalizing the customer experience. Enhancements within personalization, streamlining services and improving overall operational efficiency add to the positive impact that AI is having whilst being implemented within organizations, but where do you start and how do you ensure that the correct quality assurance is in place to ensure impact on overall business objectives?
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Speaker: Alex Sokolovski, Financial Services Digital Innovation Leader, AWS
The move to rapid product innovation within the financial services is about new products developing value-added services whilst integrating customer feedback and market trends. Driven by unprecedented speed, flexibility and creativity, this product development looks to meet competitive pressures as well as top-line business outcomes. AI and machine-learning, (ML), can provide real-time insights, personalized offerings and automated development, but with innovation comes a host of challenges that must be navigated to stay compliant and competitive. How are organizations tackle regulatory complexities, balancing speed of adoption with security and legacy system integration to name a few?
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John Kain
Head of Worldwide Financial Services Market Development, Amazon Web Services
John leads the Worldwide Business & Market Development efforts for Financial Services at Amazon Web Services (AWS). He works with customers to help them transform their existing businesses and bring new, innovative solutions to market by leveraging AWS services. John has more than 20 years of experience developing solutions for financial institutions. Prior to joining AWS, he led key programs for J.P. Morgan, Nasdaq, and two venture-backed financial technology companies. John holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.
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Alex Sokolovski
Digital Innovation Leader, AWS
Alex Sokolovski is a Digital Innovation Leader on the AWS Financial Services team, and has led 30+ Ways of Working (WoW) engagements with some of the largest FinServ customers globally. Before AWS, Alex was VP of Digital Product and led the Digital Customer Experience group at Freedom Mortgage. Prior to Freedom, Alex was with Prudential Financial as Director of Product Management for four years, where he engineered omni-channel customer journeys for life insurance and annuities products. Previously, Alex worked as a Program Manager at eBay Enterprise. Alex holds a PhD in Economics from Belarus University of Economics and MBA from the Wharton Business School.
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Dennis Waldron
Head of Financial Services Go-To-Market Strategy, AWS
As Head of Financial Services Go-To-Market Strategy, Dennis Waldron leverages 35 years of CxO experience helping financial institutions transform their enterprise data assets into strategic business value through GenAI and advanced analytics initiatives. His proven track record architecting solutions across major platforms like Salesforce, Oracle, and SAP, combined with deep expertise in Big Data strategy and AI/ML implementations, enables him to guide organizations in identifying high-impact opportunities that accelerate innovation while ensuring robust governance and compliance. Based in Las Vegas, Dennis partners with financial services executives to develop co-selling strategies that align AWS's cutting-edge solutions with specific business objectives across banking, insurance, payments, data providers, fintech, and capital markets sectors.
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Chris Taylor
Head of Banking Go-To-Market, AWS
As Head of Banking Go-To-Market at AWS, Chris Taylor helps customers realize the full business value of their cloud investments. With over 20 years of experience in financial services and technology, he serves as a trusted advisor on business transformation and innovation. Before joining AWS, Chris was the Business Information Security Officer for Global Tech Infrastructure at J.P. Morgan Chase, overseeing cybersecurity governance for public and private cloud. He also held multiple leadership roles at BNY Mellon and Goldman Sachs. Chris holds an M.B.A. from Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business and a B.S. in Mathematics from Pennsylvania State University.
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Ben Micheel
Principal, Worldwide Digital Innovation, Amazon Web Services
Ben Micheel is a Principal and North American Financial Services lead on the Innovation & Transformation team at AWS. He helps his customers invent new products, create better experiences, and accelerate culture change to transform their companies. Prior to his role at AWS, Ben served as VP, Product Owner for Liberty Mutual Insurance, where he led the product function for all elements of Service and Claims Technology. Ben has deep commercialization experience across sales and marketing, including pricing optimization, packaging excellence, and business model innovation. Ben is an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, an AWS Certified AI Practitioner, and a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU).
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Shashi Gupta
Global Head of FS AWS Center of Excellence
Capgemini
Demonstrating a deep expertise in cloud computing and digital transformation, Shashi Gupta has been instrumental in driving innovation and leveraging AWS technologies to deliver cutting-edge solutions to clients worldwide. With 22 years of experience in the financial services industry, a passion for technology, and a commitment to excellence, Shashi continues to shape the future of financial services leveraging AWS services and Capgemini’s domain expertise.
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John Kain, Head of Worldwide Financial Services Market Development at AWS
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Shashi Gupta, Global Head of FS AWS Center of Excellence Capgemini
Chris Taylor, Head of Banking Go-To-Market, AWS
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o Track 1 title: Data Strategy and Monetization - Dennis Waldron, Head of Financial Services Go-To-Market Strategy, Amazon Web Services
o Track 2 title: AI is reshaping the Customer Experience
o Track 3 title: Rapid Product Innovation - Alex Sokolovski, Financial Services Digital Innovation Leader, AWS
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Agenda
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