Agentic AI in Financial Institutions: Emerging Risks and Opportunities

Irina Rish is a Full Professor of Computer Science at Université de Montréal (UdeM), director of its Autonomous AI Lab, and core faculty member of MILA - Quebec AI Institute. She holds the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Autonomous AI and a Canada CIFAR AI Chair, an MSc and PhD in AI from the University of California, Irvine, and an MSc in Applied Mathematics from Moscow Gubkin Institute.

Her research spans automated reasoning, probabilistic inference in graphical models, machine learning, sparse modelling, and neuroscience-inspired AI. Her current work advances reliable, continually learning AI through research on robustness, interpretability, model compression, and how foundation-model capabilities and behaviors evolve with scale across language, vision, and time series. Recent lab research includes forecasting with numerical data and textual context, adaptation to changing data without forgetting, defenses against malicious instructions encountered by AI agents, and collusion risks among autonomous agents making market decisions, addressing opportunities for better prediction and efficiency alongside challenges in model evaluation and oversight.

She has received major U.S. Department of Energy compute awards, including the 2023 INCITE award and multiple ALCC awards, and led open-source foundation-model projects on Summit and Frontier at Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, including the 2023 Scalable Foundation Models INCITE project. She advises 42.com on multimodal foundation models for finance, Nolano.ai on efficient time-series foundation models, and MUUTAA on AI for healthcare supply-chain optimization.

Before joining UdeM in 2019, she spent two decades as a research scientist at IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center, working at the intersection of neuroscience and AI and leading the Neuro-AI challenge. Her IBM honors include the Eminence & Excellence and Outstanding Innovation Awards (2018), Outstanding Technical Achievement Award (2017), and Research Accomplishment Award (2009). She holds 64 patents, has authored over 170 research papers and contributed book chapters, edited three books, and published a monograph on Sparse Modeling.

Professor Denis Schweizer is a Full Professor at Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business, where he serves as Director of the Desjardins Centre for Innovation in Business Finance and Scientific Director of the Climate Business Institute. 

His research focuses on finance, alternative investments, sustainable finance, entrepreneurship, Generative AI, Quantum finance and climate-related business and financial issues. Since 2011, he has published extensively in leading academic journals, including the Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, Strategic Management Journal, and Journal of Business Ethics. His research has received several academic awards and more than $1.5 million in competitive research funding.

Professor Schweizer has also held several leadership positions, including Director of the Van Berkom Small-Cap Investment Management Program at Concordia. He has extensive teaching experience at the undergraduate, graduate, MBA, PhD, and executive education levels and has received multiple teaching awards.

Hervé Trinh is a Financial Services executive with more than 25 years of experience in quantitative finance, sales/trading, risk management, and AI & Data transformation. Having held leadership roles at JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch, UBS, Crédit Agricole CIB, and National Bank of Canada, he has led major strategic transformation initiatives across market risk, credit risk, regulatory capital, and enterprise data platforms. His expertise includes Monte Carlo VaR, CVA, RWA, Economic Capital, Basel III, FRTB, and MiFID programs. Hervé combines deep expertise in applied mathematics, capital markets, data, and AI, helping financial institutions modernize risk management and drive business transformation leveraging Data & AI capabilities.

With nearly three decades of experience in financial services and technology, Frederic combines deep expertise in IT and changes management with a relentless commitment to Operational Excellence and Innovation. His career reflects a clear trajectory from IT leadership to transformative change programs, culminating in his current role as Head of Change & Solutions for BNP Paribas in Canada, a position he has held since his appointment in May 2021. From Renault-Nissan as Global Head of the Risk IT Team to BNP as Head of Change & Solutions, Frederic has held leadership roles across, spearheading major change initiatives including strategic projects aimed at enhancing operational efficiency, governance, and digital maturity across several operating regions.

In this capacity, he served as a bridge between local management and regional stakeholders, fostering cross-functional collaboration and embedding best practices across the platform. He worked closely with Montreal International, Finance Montréal, the French Chamber of Commerce, and the Quebec government to strengthen BNP Paribas’ integration within the local ecosystem while advancing strategic business intelligence initiatives.

Frederic values collaboration and knowledge-sharing, actively engaging with both internal teams and external partners to build resilient, forward-looking operational frameworks. His career is defined not only by technical leadership but by his dedication to meaningful change, today driving innovation with energy and passion.