Advances in tech creates opportunities for dealmakers

July 09, 2024

Immense pressure to close deals faster and more cost-effectively is squeezing investment banks and private equity firms. Despite efforts to boost deal flow, there is still room for further improvement and optimization. To address these challenges, American Banker, in partnership with Williams Lea, hosted a roundtable discussion exploring the innovative tools and technologies to streamline processes and transactions, and ultimately ease the burden on dealmakers.

The panel featured Eric DiFiore, CCO at TZP Group; Bethany Foullois, Senior Advisor to and former COO and CCO at LNK Partners; Bob Landis, Founding Partner, Origination, at The Riverside Company; Chinmay Patel, CIO, Commercial Technology at Citizens Bank; Tamar Shapiro, Partner, Data Science & AI at TZP Group; and Clare Hart, CEO at Williams Lea.

Here are key insights from the event:

• Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are crucial in optimizing the dealmaking process, offering a more efficient and streamlined approach
• Before full-scale technology implementation, firms should initiate pilot programs to test and adjust
• The effectiveness of AI models is heavily dependent on having a centralized data repository; its absence can be a hurdle
• Despite the advancements in AI, human oversight continues to play an important role in verifying the accuracy of the outcomes. To maintain regulatory compliance, firms need to establish comprehensive policies governing the use of AI and ML technologies

Download the report for more takeaways as well as excerpts from the discussion.