This week, David Hardoon, group chief data and AI officer at Union Bank of the Philippines, joins Wei-Shen on the podcast to discuss language models and how they add that conversation layer to knowledge. They then unravel some of the terminologies around LLMs and the fundamentals of what firms are trying to achieve. 

This episode is David’s second time on the podcast. He first came on to talk about challenges with AI and what operationalizing data and AI means.  https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7704916/wavelength-podcast-ep-218-david-hardoon-on-ais-unforeseen-challenges

2:30 – David joins the podcast and discusses how his role revolves around data.
5:30 – He gives his view of how we view language and communicate about language. 
10:30 – The necessity of specialization in the LLM space.
14:30 – What are the challenges in creating that ring-fence? 
18:00 – Let’s talk about the most important question: What are we trying to achieve?  
21:00 – Finding the balance between innovation and running the business. 
24:30 – David walks through some use cases that will be more prevalent in the capital markets.
27:30 – How are these specialized LLMs trying to provide more context? 
31:00 – A practical example of AI hallucination and the critical role that humans play in validation. 
35:30 – David’s thoughts on the operationalization of AI and quantum computing.

Episode 271: David Hardoon dissects language models


This week, Reb, Nyela, and Shen discuss concerns around air travel and notable cybersecurity incidents.

https://www.waterstechnology.com/emerging-technologies/7952488/agentic-ai-takes-center-stage-bank-tech-projects-new-funding-rounds-and-more?cx_artPos=1&cx_testId=4&cx_testVariant=cx_1#cxrecs_s

0:00 – Reb, Nyela, and Shen talk about Reb’s flight back from New York
10:30 – They discuss two stories from our last Waters Cooler about the previous hacks on the SEC’s Edgar database and Ion


Episode 322: Navigating air travel and cybersecurity

This week, Riad Chowdhury, head of Asia-Pacific, and Dan Burke, global head of emerging markets at MarketAxess, join to discuss block trading in fixed income. Plus Reb discusses her recent article about Cusip and updates on the class action lawsuit moving through the courts.

00:00 Reb and Tony discuss recent reporting around Cusip and updates on the class action lawsuit
12:30 Riad Chowdhury, head of Asia-Pacific, and Dan Burke, global head of emerging markets at MarketAxess, join the podcast
14:40 Block trading in fixed income vs. equities
20:20 Drivers for larger-sized trades
23:00 MarketAxess’s Targeted RFQ
31:00 Challenges for dealers
33:00 Learnings from the equities world
39:00 Trends in bid/ask spreads for EM hard-currency debt
44:20 AI model for Targeted RFQ

Episode 323: MarketAxess’s Chowdhury and Burke (plus some Cusip updates)


This week, Reb and Nyela discuss BNY’s digital workers and what the use of AI in society signals for the future.


Episode 324: A philosophical conversation about AI

This week’s guest is Brian Bejile, cofounder & CEO, Octaura

0:00-7:20: Anthony Malakian and Rebecca Natale, Europe Editor for WatersTechnology, complain for seven minutes about poor customer service and artificial intelligence.

7:20-35:23: Brian Bejile and Nyela Graham, senior reporter at WatersTechnology, have an actual informative discussion—as opposed to Tony and Reb’s diatribes—about the origins of Octaura, modernization of the credit markets, the platform provider’s move into the collateralized loan obligation (CLO) space, and the need for more data and analytics on the buy side. 

Episode 325: Octaura’s Brian Bejile

This week’s guest is Nick Kolba, CEO and co-founder of Connectifi, who joins the podcast to discuss the Model Context Protocol, LLMs and agentic AI.  

0:00 – Tony and Shen talk about Astronomer’s ad campaign
5:30 – Nick Kolba joins the podcast 
8:00 – Step changes or big jumps in tech
18:00 – Excitement for the Model Context Protocol
21:00 – Parallels between FDC3 and MCP
24:30 – Concerns around security
30:00 – Work that still needs to be done
41:00 – Code generation for “senior engineers”


Episode 326: Connectifi’s Nick Kolba

This week’s guest is Mo Rahim, group chief data officer at Standard Chartered, who joins the podcast to discuss data and AI governance and guardrails for AI.

0:00 – Tony and Shen talk about recent shows they’ve watched 
9:00 – Mo Rahim joins the podcast
13:30 – Understand your core identity
17:00 – People and literacy
19:00 – Get your data right
25:00 – Standard Chartered’s research, partnerships, and innovation pillar   
29:00 – Building AI in a safe and responsible way
32:30 – AI is your plus one  


Episode 327: Standard Chartered’s Mo Rahim

This week’s guest is Lior Yogev, CEO and co-founder at FundGuard. He joins the podcast to discuss legacy tech stacks at asset management firms.

0:00 – Tony and Shen talk about personalities
10:00 – Lior Yogev joins the podcast
12:30 – When does a tech stack become legacy? 
19:00 – How asset managers modernize their platforms without excess downtime
22:30 – Migration times
26:30 – Total rebuild vs. slight tweaks

Episode 328: FundGuard’s Lior Yogev

This week, Reb and Tony talk about the internet and the problems compounded by AI.
https://www.waterstechnology.com/emerging-technologies/7952665/the-great-disappearing-internet%E2%80%94and-what-it-could-mean-for-your-llm

0:00 – Welcome to the team, Mya! You can reach her at Mya.Jheeta@infopro-digital.com 
7:00 – Reb and Tony discuss her recent column and the interconnected mess of a web of humans, internet, and AI


Episode 329: LLMs and the dead internet theory

This week, Shen and Reb discuss a recent MIT study on GenAI pilots, and Reb’s recent story about ModuleQ dissolving. 

https://mlq.ai/media/quarterly_decks/v0.1_State_of_AI_in_Business_2025_Report.pdf
https://www.waterstechnology.com/emerging-technologies/7952681/fintech-powering-lseg%E2%80%99s-ai-alerts-dissolves

Episode 330: AI hot takes

This week’s guest is Bill Murphy, managing partner at Cresting Wave 
0:00 – Tony and Shen discuss System of a Down and Gorillaz 
6:00 – Bill Murphy, Blackstone’s former CTO, joins to discuss that much-discussed MIT study on AI projects failing and factors executives should consider as the technology continues to evolves

Episode 331: Cresting Wave’s Bill Murphy

Wei-Shen Wong and Anthony Malakian discuss the hottest financial technology topics in the capital markets every week.

Episode 271: David Hardoon dissects language models

Waters Wavelength Podcast