On the latest episode of the Innovators' Exchange, Hiten Patel interviews Kunal Kapoor, CEO of Morningstar, a leading provider of independent investment research and financial services. Kunal shares his unique journey from joining Morningstar as a fresh college graduate in 1997, when the company had just over 200 employees, to leading it today as a global firm with more than 10,000 employees.

The conversation dives into Morningstar’s evolution from a mutual fund data provider to a diversified financial services company through strategic acquisitions such as Aspect Huntley, Micropal, DBRS, and PitchBook, and through expansion into investment management and credit ratings. Kunal shares his insights on navigating industry disruptions, including AI transformation, the growing importance of private markets, and shifting wealth management dynamics. He also reflects on how his leadership style was shaped by deep company experience, a founder’s mindset, and a commitment to embracing change.

Key topics include: 

• Early years: Kunal reflects on his upbringing, being born and raised in India, and gaining early independence through boarding school experience. He then moved to the US in 1993 for college education and joined Morningstar’s data collection team right after graduation in 1997.
• Morningstar’s growth: Initially a small company (about 200 employees in 1997) focused on Mutual Fund Binder and early software products; Morningstar’s growth was driven by a culture of ownership. Acquisitions of Aspect Huntley, Micropal, DBRS and PitchBook further allowed for international and capability expansion.
• Investment management and credit ratings: Kunal shares how responding to financial advisors’ needs by building portfolio management and managed account services and developing a global investment management business across multiple countries positioned Morningstar as the world’s fourth-largest credit rating agency.
• Views on AI, private markets, and wealth: Kunal argues AI disruption is real, but market reactions may overestimate short-term impact, with AI significantly enhancing personalization in investment management. He notes that private markets are growing due to companies staying private longer and changing capital raising but emphasizes the need for investors to understand liquidity and fee structures in these markets. As for wealth management, fees are likely to decline due to technological advances, so advisors must scale and add value.
• Leadership lessons: From Kunal’s experience, an insider perspective offers deep cultural and client understanding but requires an outside-in mindset to avoid complacency. He emphasizes the importance of adaptability and embracing change for both personal and professional growth.

This episode is part of Innovators’ Exchange, a series that explores the financial infrastructure and technology landscape. Tune in for a captivating exploration of key themes and opportunities for both professionals and retail investors, touching on AI's transformative potential in financial markets. 

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Introducing the Innovators’ Exchange podcast, hosted by Hiten Patel, Global Head of Financial Infrastructure Technology, and Services at Oliver Wyman.

Join Hiten as he engages in insightful conversations with CEOs and founders who are shaping the landscape of financial technology, data, and software. In each episode, Hiten delves into their journeys to success, daily motivations, business visions, and the invaluable lessons they've gathered along the way.

Meet visionaries such as Maroun Eddé of Murex, Brad Levy from Symphony, Cat Long of Trace, Anand Sambasivan of Primary Bid, David Mercer of LMAX, and Bin Ren of Sigtech. From discussing the ever-evolving nature of capital markets to the symbiotic relationship between humans and AI, these conversations provide a unique perspective on innovation in the financial sector.

On this latest episode of Innovator’s Exchange, our host Hiten Patel interviews Blythe Masters, tracing her circuitous career from photocopying swap documentation in London to leading FNZ Group, a global wealth-technology platform that processes about $2.3 trillion and serves over 30 million end customers. Blythe reflects on her formative experiences at JP Morgan — including helping institutionalize credit derivatives — her career transitions, leadership lessons, and the importance of curiosity and resilience. She outlines FNZ’s mission to remove inefficiency in wealth delivery, explains how AI and platform-level data will superpower human advisors (not replace them), and emphasizes the combined importance of software, data, people, and ecosystem strength in building competitive advantage. Blythe also discusses the UK’s opportunities for innovation, particularly in light of the flexibility created by certain post-Brexit regulatory changes.

Key topics include: 

• Early career: Blythe shares how her immersion in derivatives began during a gap-year temporary role at Morgan Guaranty, where she spent hours photocopying contracts and documents before eventually reading them.
• Derivatives and credit innovation: Since the early 1990s, Blythe was scrutinizing nascent credit-linked concepts, eventually leading multi-year efforts at JP Morgan to translate those ideas into institutional products — working with ISDA, rating agencies, regulators, internal risk teams, and clients — to create standardized documentation, risk frameworks, and operational processes. She then helped drive broader adoption, demonstrating how cross‑functional execution is essential to move financial innovation from concept to scale.
• Current state of wealth infrastructure: Blythe shares her thoughts on how face-value UX improvements hide deep operational inefficiencies, leading to higher costs and reduced end-investor outcomes.
• AI’s realistic role in wealth: She explains that AI can enhance wealth management by augmenting advisors — automating administrative tasks, accelerating onboarding, strengthening compliance, and improving advice quality. FNZ is well-positioned to leverage these gains because its extensive operational data across the wealth lifecycle can be used to train effective AI models.
• UK’s Innovation and regulation: The conversation explores whether the UK can move faster post-EU to pursue tailored regulatory approaches — for example, digital identity, shared KYC/AML solutions. Political will is needed to prioritize these high-impact initiatives.

This episode is part of Innovators’ Exchange, a series that explores the financial infrastructure and technology landscape. Tune in for a captivating exploration of key themes and opportunities for both professionals and retail investors, touching on AI's transformative potential in financial markets. 

Subscribe for more on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Youtube | Podscribe 

Hong Kong's pivotal role as a super connector between global investors and mainland China, the importance of tailored regulation in fostering market innovation, and the growing relevance of stablecoins and digital assets in shaping the future of finance.

In this special video episode of the Innovators’ Exchange recorded in London, Bonnie Y Chan, CEO of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX), is interviewed by podcast host Hiten Patel. In the interview Bonnie emphasizes the importance of collaboration within Asian markets to bolster growth and views regulation as an enabler rather than an obstacle. She also addresses the rising interest in stablecoins and digital assets, noting ongoing regulatory developments in Hong Kong.

Key talking points:

• Bonnie’s background: She reflects on her fascinating career path, from early regulatory roles to her current position as CEO of HKEX. Bonnie credits her legal training in capital markets for sharpening problem-solving skills essential to managing a stock exchange, and underscores the importance of continuous learning about secondary markets.
• Views on regulation: She argues that regulation can serve as an enabler rather than a hurdle. By understanding market stakeholders, regulators can design tailored frameworks that facilitate market development.
• Hong Kong's global financial role: Bonnie describes Hong Kong as a "super connector" between global investors and mainland China, especially as geopolitical dynamics shift. She highlights a resurgence of foreign investment in recent IPOs and HKEX's recent return to the top of global IPO rankings.
• Innovation pipeline: More than 300 companies are waiting to be listed on HKEX, many in cutting-edge sectors such as biotechnology and technology. She notes the growing international nature of these companies, with many generating significant revenue from outside China.
• Stablecoins and digital assets: Stablecoins are gaining traction in Hong Kong, with regulations being established for their issuance. Bonnie sees stablecoins primarily as a medium of exchange, highlighting their potential for settling stock transactions.

This episode is part of Innovators’ Exchange, a series that explores the financial infrastructure and technology landscape. Tune in to hear more insights from industry leaders on the evolution of the global financial ecosystem.

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This episode was recorded in October 2025.

Valerie Urbain, CEO of Euroclear, joins Hiten Patel and Nikolai Dienerowitz to discuss Euroclear’s role as a foundational global financial market infrastructure and the company’s strategic priorities. Valerie opened up about her journey from Senegal to her role as Euroclear’s CEO, emphasizing how culture, human capital development, diversity, and inclusion were at the core of her leadership philosophy and the organization’s ability to innovate responsibly.

The conversation touched upon the importance of trust and interoperability in traditional and digital markets, the need to convert European savers into investors to finance growth and scale-ups, balanced and nuanced regulation, cautious but active engagement with distributed ledger technology (DLT) and digital assets, and practical applications of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve productivity and client services.

Key topics include:

• Euroclear’s role and scale: As a global financial market infrastructure, Euroclear manages securities settlement and safekeeping (including equities, bonds, funds, ETFs), acting as a digital notary and a connector between issuers and investors. Euroclear links Europe to more than 45 markets, settles about the equivalent of the world's GDP each month, and safekeeps over €41 trillion in assets.
• Valerie’s leadership formation: Raised across African countries, Valerie had an early exposure to “being different,” and gained autonomy when she moved to Europe at the age of 16. Her career spans client-facing roles, banking, and then progressing through commercial, product and general management positions and a formative five-year stint as head of HR, which later shaped her enterprise-wide people perspective.
• European capital markets: Valerie argues Europe must convert savers into investors to fund startups, scale-ups, and large financing needs, with Euroclear lowering costs through scale, supporting savings and investment union efforts, and enhancing market accessibility.
• Digital assets and DLT: Euroclear has piloted DLT-based issuance with reputable issuers, but volumes remain small. Scaling requires broad market participation and interoperability between legacy and digital systems.
• AI adoption: Euroclear has widely deployed Microsoft Copilot and uses AI to review end-to-end processes for productivity gains. Valerie shares an early client-facing use case where AI is used to predictively identify likely unmatched trades ahead of T+1 settlement. To embed ethics and governance into AI adoption, Euroclear hired a professional with a background in philosophy.
• Interoperability and trust as strategic assets: In a fragmented/geopolitical world, Euroclear positions itself as an interoperability glue between markets and traditional and digital assets, with a core strength being its ability to connect liquidity pools and enable collateral mobility. Valerie talks about trust as a scarce and crucial commodity and highlights Euroclear’s commitment to upholding that, helped by their scale and rules-based operations.

This episode is part of Innovators’ Exchange, a series that explores the financial infrastructure and technology landscape. Tune in for a captivating exploration of key themes and opportunities for both professionals and retail investors, touching on AI's transformative potential in financial markets.

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In this episode of The Innovators Exchange, co-hosts Hiten Patel and Cosimo Schiavone engage in an insightful discussion with Ed Maslaveckas, co-founder and CEO of Bud Financial. The conversation covers Ed's journey from his early experiences in banking to founding a fintech company focused on enhancing customer engagement and personalization through advanced data analytics. Ed discusses the challenges and opportunities within the financial technology landscape, particularly the integration of generative AI and its impact on customer interactions.

Key topics include:

• Bud Financial overview: Ed is CEO and co-founder of Bud Financial, a firm established in 2015, initially as a consumer app. Now, the company focuses on personalization and customer engagement tools, with an aim to substitute unnecessary bank marketing with tailored financial product recommendations.
• Generative AI in banking: Ed highlights increasing interest from banks in using generative AI for customer engagement, whilst also acknowledging the importance of training AI models with appropriate data to avoid inaccuracies.
• Market dynamics: Banking landscapes between the UK and the US differ, with smaller US banks being more willing to partner with fintechs like Bud. Ed emphasizes the need for resilience and adaptability in the face of disruptive external macro events.
• Future of financial assistance: The conversation touches on the need for incorporating automation and AI to improve customer experience and operational efficiency, particularly developing efficient models that would handle complex queries and offer personalized solutions.

This episode is part of Innovators’ Exchange, a series that explores the financial infrastructure and technology landscape. Tune in for a captivating exploration of key themes and opportunities for both professionals and retail investors, touching on AI's transformative potential in financial markets.

In this episode of the Innovators Exchange, Hiten Patel and Magnus Burkl welcome Steffen Scheuble, founder and CEO of Solactive, a company specializing in developing and calculating financial indices. Steffen talks about the challenges and successes he faced while growing the company, and his insights on the current and future trends shaping the index industry. The conversation touches on the impact of geopolitical factors, the increasing demand for customization in investment products, and the evolving role of technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), in index manufacturing.

Key talking points:

• Background and motivation: Solactive specializes in calculating indices like the FTSE 100 and S&P 500, but with a focus on IT-driven efficiency and customization. Steffen's journey actually began as the first client of Solactive before it officially launched, driven by a need for efficient index solutions while working at Deutsche Bank.
• Geopolitical impact: Steffen talks about the current geopolitical landscape and its implications for the index industry, particularly the rising interest in European-centric investment strategies. He discusses a noticeable shift in focus from US-based indices to European opportunities, driven by changing global dynamics.
• Customization trends: The demand for customized indices is increasing as investors seek tailored solutions that align with their specific philosophies and regulatory requirements. Steffen shares how Solactive is committed to reducing the costs of index production to facilitate the launch of more personalized investment products.
• Future of the index industry: Steffen emphasizes the importance of staying attuned to emerging trends and being flexible in response to market demands.
• Themes driving the rise in private market indices: Key factors include the growth of private market indices, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations, and the need for adaptability in a rapidly evolving market. While AI enhances efficiency in index production, Steffen emphasizes the current limitations in making long-term predictive investment decisions.

This episode was recorded in April 2025.

This episode is part of the Innovators' Exchange series. Tune in to learn more about the evolution of AI, risk management, and entrepreneurial journeys.

Hiten Patel meets Victoria Stevens, a partner and fund manager at Liontrust Asset Management. Victoria discusses her unique career journey from financial journalism to asset management, highlighting the value of seizing opportunities and learning from challenges. She shares insights about her role, investment philosophy, and the importance of mid-cap companies in driving economic growth. Victoria emphasizes the significance of supporting ambitious companies for overall economic development. She addresses the current state of the UK stock market, including its underperformance compared to global markets and the implications for investors. The conversation also touches on the characteristics of successful growth-stage companies and how corporate acquisitions in the public market impact the industry.

Key topics include:

• Philosophy of investment and economic growth: Victoria discusses how mid-cap companies are vital for driving innovation and economic development, as they create a ripple effect by investing in products and services. She also emphasises the importance of identifying intangible asset strengths in businesses to ensure long-term competitive advantages and strong returns.
• UK stock market dynamics: The conversation dives into the UK market and how it has underperformed due to capital outflows and a lack of recognition of its potential, presenting opportunities for long-term investors.
• Active versus passive investing: The discussion highlights the need for active management in public markets, especially in identifying long-term growth opportunities.
• Corporate acquisitions: Victoria shares her view on the dual nature of acquisitions and how it could be both is a sign of success and a challenge for long-term investors due to valuation pressures.

This episode is part of Innovators’ Exchange, a podcast series that explores the financial infrastructure and technology landscape. Tune in for an engaging discussion of key themes and opportunities for both professionals and retail investors, touching on the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in financial markets.