Morgan Stanley Wealth Management (MSWM) announced an important milestone in its innovation journey through the launch of a strategic initiative to create a bespoke solution with OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research and deployment lab. The business unit is one of a handful of GPT-4 launch organizations, and Morgan Stanley is currently the only strategic client in wealth management receiving early access to OpenAI’s new products.
MSWM will leverage OpenAI’s technology to access, process and synthesize content to assimilate MSWM’s own expansive range of intellectual capital in the form of insights into companies, sectors, asset classes, capital markets, and regions around the world. Designed specifically for and by Morgan Stanley with appropriate controls, Financial Advisors and their teams will use the internal capability to ask questions and contemplate large amounts of content and data, with answers delivered in an easily digestible format generated exclusively from MSWM content and with links to the source documents. The stream of interactions and feedback from these queries will help further refine the offering while helping Financial Advisors to better serve their clients.
The announcement comes on the heels of recent MSWM AI projects that include Next Best Action, an internally-built AI-based engine that delivers timely, customized messages to clients and prospects guided by the Financial Advisor. MSWM has also been implementing its proprietary Genome capability through the self-directed and workplace channels, which uses data analytics and machine learning to further personalize client communication.
“We believe trust-based relationships and human advice will always be valued by clients, and the Financial Advisor and their teams will remain the center of our wealth management universe,” said Andy Saperstein, Co-President and Head of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. “We aim to leverage OpenAI’s breakthrough technology into a competitive advantage in how our Financial Advisors can harness Morgan Stanley’s knowledge and insights in ways that were once never thought feasible. This technology is a game changer in synthesizing our expansive intellectual capital, bringing the value and richness of it to a whole new level, and in the process freeing up valuable time for Financial Advisors to do what they do best—serve their clients.”
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is also considering additional OpenAI technology, which has the potential to enhance the insights from Financial Advisors’ notes and streamline follow-up client communications.
Morgan Stanley has a proven track record of integrating technology and innovation into its complex operating environment, from the Smith Barney integration, to its risk and portfolio analytics work with BlackRock’s Aladdin® platform, and recently punctuated by the acquisitions of groundbreaking companies that disrupted industries: Solium in equity administration, E*TRADE in the digital brokerage industry, and Eaton Vance in index creation.
“Innovation is a driving force in our position as a Category of One in the industry. We see first-hand that we are in a period of rapidly advancing, powerful technological development,” said Jeff McMillan, Head of Analytics, Data & Innovation for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. “We comb through hundreds of startups and tech firms to find technologies that can help enrich and improve the Financial Advisor and client experience, while aligning with appropriate controls, and OpenAI stands out. The work we are doing with them will allow us to bring our expansive intellectual capital into the hands of our Financial Advisors in seconds – it will be like having our Chief Investment Strategist, Chief Global Economist, and Global Equities Strategist on call for every Financial Advisor 24/7.”
