Financial Planning Software Adopts New Standards as CIBC and Bloomberg Expand AI Integration

Tech Roundup: Financial Planning Software Updates and AI Advances at CIBC and Bloomberg

Financial planning software providers Snap Projections, Conquest Planning, and Voyant have integrated FP Canada’s latest project assumption guidelines for financial projections. These guidelines define key assumptions for long-term financial planning, including an inflation rate of 2.1% and a projected annual growth of 6.6% for Canadian equities in 2025. FP Canada updates these assumptions annually to reflect current economic conditions.

Damienne Lebrun-Reid, general counsel and head of FP Canada’s standards council, stated that these software updates help financial planners offer clients reliable advice for long-term financial health.

CIBC’s AI Platform Expands Bank-Wide

On May 27, CIBC rolled out its in-house generative AI platform, CIBC AI, across the entire bank. After a successful pilot starting in July 2024, the platform has saved employees across Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. roughly 200,000 hours by automating routine tasks such as document summarization, email drafting, and research compilation.

Access to CIBC AI requires employees to complete a mandatory training course, ensuring they understand how to safely and effectively apply AI in their daily work. David Gillespie, CIBC’s executive vice-president of infrastructure, architecture, and modernization, emphasized the importance of this training in identifying opportunities to deploy AI responsibly within the bank.

Notably, CIBC was the first major Canadian bank to sign the Government of Canada’s Voluntary Code of Conduct on the Responsible Development and Management of Advanced Generative AI Systems in March.

Bloomberg Launches AI Chatbot for Terminal Users

Bloomberg has introduced Instant Bloomberg Connect, an AI chatbot available as an add-on for Bloomberg Anywhere customers. This tool allows firms to integrate proprietary bots directly into Instant Bloomberg chat rooms, facilitating real-time information sharing across multiple organizations.

Users can customize bots to automatically provide relevant updates such as order management system statuses, market reports from research content platforms, and trade ideas from client relationship management software. The chatbot enables users to retrieve information by simply querying the bot within ongoing conversations, streamlining access without disrupting workflow.

Instant Bloomberg Connect enhances communication among terminal users by linking them directly with financial markets and each other.