This week, Jack Sharry talks with Kevin Mitchell, CEO and Co-Founder of Graphene. After nearly two decades building and operating regulated wealth platforms across the UK and Europe, Kevin co-founded Graphene to help wealth firms take greater control of the infrastructure on which their businesses depend.
Jack and Kevin examine why platform infrastructure has become an enterprise-level strategic decision. Kevin outlines how owning more of the value chain can give wealth firms greater authority over their data, operating model, client experience, and economics while still allowing them to use institutional partners for capabilities such as custody. They also discuss Graphene’s approach to data sovereignty, the relationship between infrastructure and enterprise value, and why firms should establish secure, interoperable foundations before applying AI.
In this episode:
(00:00) - Intro
(01:39) - Kevin’s career in regulated wealth platform infrastructure
(03:46) - Building a “Shopify for wealth management”
(07:13) - The benefits of owning your platform
(08:50) - The importance of data sovereignty for wealth firms
(10:59) - Graphene's growth and global ambitions
(12:02) - Democratizing institutional capabilities for wealth managers
(14:11) - Why AI needs a strong foundation
(17:40) - Using AI to build secure, customized applications
(19:07) - Kevin's outlook about the future of the wealth management industry
(20:10) - Kevin's interests outside of work
Quotes
"A lot of these wealth management companies didn't necessarily have the expertise, the resources, the budget, or, in some cases, even the willingness to build and own the thing that their entire business ran on." ~Kevin Mitchell
"We all know that any successful business, whether you're a financial services company or otherwise, those that succeed will have full control of their data." ~ Kevin Mitchell
"If you don't have the data in a secure environment, if you don't understand who those counterparties are and where they store your data, if you don't understand the compliance restrictions and the regulated environment you work in, you will be left in a very dark place." ~ Kevin Mitchell
Links
Kevin Mitchell on LinkedIn
Graphene Platforms
Robert Kelly
Shopify
Financial Conduct Authority
London Stock Exchange
St Andrews
Connect with our hosts
LifeYield
Jack Sharry on LinkedIn
Jack Sharry on Twitter
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