Switzerland is renowned for its centuries-old companies that continue to lead in innovation and technology, with Swiss businesses often synonymous with quality. The secret lies in nurturing long lasting values while evolving to anticipate future needs. Pictet Asset Management (Pictet AM), one of the four business lines of the 220 year old Pictet Group exemplifies this ethos.
“Organisations must continuously enable reinvention and cultural momentum to remain future-ready,” asserts Laurent Gaye, Chief Technology and Operations Officer at Pictet AM. Gaye will share his insights at Lead26, the conference for next-generation leaders, on 19 November in Zurich.
A Legacy of Innovation and Adaptability
“To honour our commitment to enduring quality, delivering superior investment results and exceptional client experiences are among Pictet’s core values. Each generation of business leaders redefines how these values translate into our business,” Gaye explains.
While many established companies struggle with rigid corporate cultures that treat innovation and flexibility as abstract ideals, Pictet AM has embraced an entrepreneurial approach. Drawing inspiration from the technology sector combined with the calculated risk-taking mindset of an investment firm we aim to rapidly adapt to a new operational paradigm. Generative and agentic AI platforms will play a pivotal role in this transformation.
Immediate Application and Continuous Improvement
“Asset management is undergoing significant transformations across all dimensions,” says Gaye. “We realised that traditional change management processes—such as building proof-of-concepts and prototypes, waiting for feedback, and updating later- we are too rigid and slow for today’s pace of change.”
Pictet AM’s AI strategy combines horizontal scaling with targeted vertical innovations. While horizontal solutions are deployed organisation-wide, vertical use cases focus on high-impact breakthroughs in areas such as software development, investment research, responsible investing, and sales enablement.
Rapid Horizontal Deployment
Pictet AM has adopted a “fully scaled beta version” approach, to deploying new solutions horizontally across the organisation for immediate operational use and ongoing improvement. “It requires a leap of faith to dive in with something new, but we are convinced that scaling up quickly is essential to test and learn at speed,” Gaye emphasises.
Pictet AM has been an early adopter of generative AI, launching its internal “One Chat” platform in 2023. Co-developed by the Pictet Group AI Centre of Excellence and Unique, and based on Microsoft Azure OpenAI, the platform was deployed to all Group employees from day one. It provides secure access to ChatGPT, enabling tasks such as regulatory compliance checks, software code development, and personalised email composition. Additional functionalities include documentation automation, meeting transcription, and summarisation, significantly reducing administrative burdens.
Pictet AM has also rolled out globally advanced tools like Perplexity Pro and is currently deploying Microsoft Copilot, leveraging them for document indexing, research, analysis, and AI agent creation and supervision. “These tools are becoming integral to our daily operations,” Gaye notes.
Targeted Vertical Solutions
For more targeted activity Gaye cites two initiatives that have already begun to yield significant benefits for the firm and its clients.
The first is within investment, Pictet AM’s Quest AI strategy uses an AI model, trained over five years, to target stock specific alpha by analysing hundreds of companies’ features across millions of data points. The AI can spot complex patterns that humans cannot see, uncovering a new source of alpha that is both resilient to, and independent of, market cycles.
Meanwhile, on the distribution side they have overlayed Salesforce with AI to analyse investors’ behaviour and asset allocation exposures, which when combined with market context enables relationship teams to propose ideas for clients to navigate market volatility.
“Transitioning from proof-of-concept to production in vertical use cases depends on robust data quality, access, and literacy,” Gaye explains. Pictet’s multi-year data project, built on Snowflake, includes dataset reviews and semantic layer documentation to ensure these foundations are in place.
Building an AI-Driven Culture
“We encourage all team members to use AI tools at least twice a day and share their learnings,” says Gaye. “The best recommendations often come from colleagues who have experienced tangible benefits in their daily work.”
This peer-driven approach fosters a culture of experimentation and openness. “It’s essential that everyone feels safe to experiment and speak up,” Gaye adds. However, he stresses that AI adoption is not an end in itself but a means to create and capture business value. “A new cultural dimension is required to embrace the radically different business and operating models that AI enables.”
Safeguarding Standards and Compliance
Given the secure nature of asset management, Pictet AM prioritises data safety and reliability. “We view AI agents as a kind of new, inexperienced interns — improving continuously while being closely supervised to ensure our standards are met,” Gaye reflects. A dedicated Group Policy enforces guardrails, and reliance on Swiss and European data centres ensures full compliance with financial regulations.
Driving Execution with Three Core Convictions
Pictet AM’s AI journey is guided by three key principles:
- Start with full scale deployment for horizontal solutions, focus for vertical high-impact.
- Strengthen foundations, particularly in data, security, and AI technology.
- Maximise impact by upskilling the organisation and fostering a new cultural dimension.
“Pictet AM has always prided itself on its entrepreneurial and pioneering spirit,” Gaye concludes. “We are excited to embrace this uncharted frontier and unlock the full potential of AI for our clients and our business.”
