AI ambition needs a data foundation first
At TSAM London 2026, Robin Hasson, Head of Reconciliations and Product Management at Smartstream, reflected on a theme running through the entire event: almost every conversation about AI quickly led back to data. For AI to deliver meaningful results in financial operations, the underlying data needs to be well-structured, centralised, and quality-controlled. Without that foundation, AI training produces unreliable outputs – and the business case falls apart before it begins.
As Robin put it, the AI future is very much powered by how firms store and architect their data. A golden source of clean, accessible data is not just a prerequisite for AI – it also drives better reporting, more reliable MIS, and sharper operational insight across the board.
The risk of letting AI replicate existing problems
One of the clearest points Robin made was around the danger of deploying AI without strategic intent. Giving general-purpose AI tools to everyone across an organisation can improve productivity in the short term, but it can also generate new forms of technical debt. If a firm’s reconciliations are currently held together by spreadsheets and legacy macros, converting those directly into AI-generated code does not solve the underlying problem – it moves it one step further along. The output looks different, but the structural weakness remains.
The firms getting the most from AI are those treating it as part of a deliberate operational evolution, not a shortcut. Smart Reconciliations is designed with that principle in mind – providing a structured, auditable platform that gives AI the high-quality data environment it needs to work effectively.
Operational modernisation and the road to T+1
Alongside the AI conversation, Robin noted that TSAM delegates were focused on the practical question of how to modernise back-office operations – particularly in the context of T+1 settlement requirements and the broader push for faster, more resilient processes. These two agendas are closely connected: firms that invest in clean data infrastructure and automated reconciliation workflows now are the same firms that will be best placed to deploy AI effectively as the technology and regulatory landscape continues to develop. To explore how Smartstream supports financial institutions on that journey, visit the Smart Reconciliations page or contact the team directly.
