Blockchain, AI and the Risk of Solving the Wrong Problem

The financial industry continues to explore how technologies such as AI, blockchain and distributed ledger infrastructure may support the future evolution of corporate actions and shareholder governance.

While these technologies undoubtedly possess significant potential, there remains a risk that they are increasingly being applied to compensate for fragmented processes rather than addressing the underlying causes of fragmentation itself.

A growing number of initiatives now focus on using AI to interpret issuer documents and establish ‘golden interpretations’ through consensus models.

However, the most effective long-term solution is to improve issuer-originated structured data at source.

By enabling issuers and issuer agents to distribute structured information directly into the market through recognised standards such as ISO20022, the industry can reduce complexity, improve interoperability and minimise the need for downstream interpretation altogether.

The challenge therefore is not whether AI or DLT should be used.

It is ensuring those technologies are applied where they genuinely add value rather than layering additional complexity onto workflows that could be modernised more effectively through better standards adoption and issuer connectivity.

Source: Commentary on blockchain and shareholder governance developments