AI for Finance: one participant shares how the programme is turning AI into practical business value

Five questions to Fulvio Pepe, Head of Organization at Creand Wealth & Securities

Last week, we celebrated the graduation of a new cohort from the AI for Finance programme, co-developed by the ABBL with the House of Training and ESSEC Business School. But beyond the graduation ceremony, what do participants actually take away from the programme?

To find out, we spoke with Fulvio Pepe, Head of Organization at Creand Wealth & Securities, who recently completed the programme. From prompt engineering to responsible AI and organisational transformation, he explains how the training is already influencing the way he works and why he believes AI is becoming an essential capability for financial professionals.

What motivated you to join the programme?

As a member of the ABBL Innovation Cluster, I had followed the development of the programme from an early stage, so joining it felt like a natural next step.

Knowing that it had been co-developed by the ABBL, delivered by the House of Training and designed with ESSEC Business School gave me confidence that it would focus on the real opportunities and challenges AI presents for financial institutions.

Beyond understanding the technology itself, I wanted to discover how AI could create practical value within my own organisation. The programme also offered an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas with professionals from across Luxembourg’s financial sector and learn from their different experiences.

What surprised you most?

What surprised me most was how quickly AI can generate valuable results when given well-structured prompts.

Before the programme, I mainly associated AI with chatbots and basic automation. I discovered that it can support a much wider range of activities, including analysing information, summarising reports, drafting presentations and improving documentation.

One of my biggest takeaways was the importance of prompt engineering. Small changes in the way instructions are formulated can dramatically improve the quality of the output.

At the same time, the programme reinforced an important message: AI does not replace professional judgement. Human expertise remains essential to validate results, provide context and make informed decisions.

Which part of the programme had the biggest impact on you?

The module dedicated to practical AI applications in finance had the greatest impact.

Working through real-life use cases demonstrated how AI can streamline everyday tasks such as summarising lengthy documents, analysing financial information, drafting reports and creating presentations.

The practical exercises made it easy to move beyond theory and understand how AI can already be integrated into daily workflows.

I also appreciated the discussions around responsible AI, particularly governance, data quality, privacy and the importance of maintaining human oversight.

How do you see AI changing your role?

As Head of Organization at Creand Wealth & Securities, my role focuses on improving processes, supporting organisational change and preparing the business for future challenges.

I see AI becoming an important enabler of that transformation rather than simply another productivity tool.

It can help identify opportunities to improve processes, automate repetitive administrative tasks, analyse large volumes of information and support better decision-making.

Because Creand specialises in asset servicing for investment funds, AI also has significant potential to improve operational efficiency, strengthen risk management and enhance client service, always within an appropriate governance and compliance framework.

Looking ahead, I believe my role will increasingly involve identifying where AI creates sustainable business value while helping colleagues build the confidence and skills needed to use these technologies responsibly.

Would you recommend the programme?

Absolutely.

The programme strikes an excellent balance between explaining AI concepts and demonstrating practical applications that participants can use immediately in their daily work.

It is suitable for professionals with different levels of experience and focuses on practical business value rather than technical complexity or coding.

Perhaps most importantly, it encourages participants to think critically about responsible AI adoption, covering data quality, privacy and the continuing importance of human oversight.

As AI becomes part of everyday financial services, understanding how to work effectively alongside these technologies will become an increasingly valuable skill.