Last Thursday, in Madrid, financial leaders and senior banking professionals gathered for the third edition of Mirai’s Executive Breakfast, an event that continues to consolidate its place as a forum for strategic dialogue on the future of balance sheet management. Hosted in a private room at the headquarters of Amazon España, located in the iconic Torre Moeve, the setting offered a privileged view over one of Madrid’s key business hubs. The morning unfolded into a dynamic discussion, marked by depth and perspective.
Hosted by Mirai RiskTech, a leader in cloud-native risk technology for modern balance sheet management, and powered by our technology partner Amazon Web Services España, the event brought together a select group of industry experts to explore the evolving landscape of Asset and Liability Management (ALM) in an increasingly complex and volatile environment.
At the heart of the discussion was a defining theme: the role of artificial intelligence as a driver of transformation in balance sheet management. In a context shaped by economic volatility and growing regulatory demands, AI is emerging as a capability that can reshape how institutions analyze, decide, and act.
The conversation explores how AI is already beginning to integrate into treasury and ALM processes, enhancing analytical depth and enabling more agile, data-driven decision-making, while preserving the essential pillars of transparency, auditability, and regulatory trust. A particular focus was placed on bridging the gap between ambition and execution: how to move AI from conceptual frameworks into practical, day-to-day applications within financial teams.
The session opened with welcoming remarks from Olmo Vázquez, Co-founder and CEO of Mirai RiskTech, who set the tone for the day by outlining the key themes of the discussion and reaffirming Mirai’s mission to support banks in Spain with cloud-native, intelligent solutions for modern balance sheet management.
The opening was followed by a featured address from José Antonio Soler, Group Executive Vice-President and Global Treasurer at Santander. His presentation, “Artificial Intelligence in Banking: A Driver for Evolution,” offered a forward-looking perspective on how AI is gradually reshaping financial institutions, not through disruption alone, but through continuous and strategic evolution.
AI adoption is also increasingly understood as a business-driven priority, closely linked to strategic decision-making at the highest levels of the organization. The focus is gradually moving toward execution, with institutions working to translate potential into scalable, governed, and production-ready capabilities. While progress continues, the transition from experimentation to industrialization remains a key challenge, requiring more integrated platforms, consistent governance frameworks, and stronger organizational alignment. Against this backdrop, trust, data readiness, and the effective integration of AI into core processes are becoming critical factors in delivering tangible and sustained impact.
Building on this foundation, the panel discussion “AI: From Strategic Vision to Execution” brought the conversation closer to the realities faced by institutions today. Moderated by Miguel Ángel Penabella, Advisor at Mirai RiskTech, the panel featured insights from Raquel Calvo of Banco Santander and Santiago Fernández of Grupo Cajamar. The discussion explored how institutions are approaching AI adoption in practice, balancing ambition with caution, and strategy with execution.
AI as a strategic decision: Adoption is increasingly driven at a business and management level, requiring alignment across leadership, risk, and finance rather than being confined to technology teams.
From potential to execution: While AI capabilities continue to evolve rapidly, institutions are advancing at a measured pace, ensuring innovation is implemented without compromising reliability or control.
Governance and regulation: Explainability, traceability, and compliance remain central, particularly as regulatory frameworks such as the EU AI Act continue to evolve.
People and organizations: AI is reshaping team dynamics, calling for new skills, broader upskilling, and closer collaboration between professionals and intelligent systems.
Value creation: Institutions are refining how to assess impact, balancing immediate efficiency gains with longer-term transformational potential.
Beyond these themes, the dialogue naturally expanded into some of the key questions shaping the industry today. What is the real “state of mind” of financial institutions when it comes to AI? The discussion reflected a combination of conviction and urgency, with a clear understanding that AI is becoming a critical capability for competitiveness and decision-making, alongside a degree of caution driven by the nature of the sector.
From there, the conversation turned to leadership. Is AI still driven by curiosity, or has it become a true strategic priority at the executive level? The panel pointed to strong and increasing engagement from senior management, with initiatives more frequently led from the top and embedded into broader business agendas.
Another key question addressed the pace of change, whether organizations are able to keep up with the speed of technological evolution. There’s a visible gap between what technology already enables and what institutions are realistically able to implement, highlighting the importance of platforms, governance frameworks, and validation processes to support consistent scaling.
The discussion also explored how to approach implementation in practice, particularly whether to focus on isolated use cases or pursue broader transformation from the outset. A balanced approach emerged, combining targeted initiatives that deliver early value with a longer-term vision that enables sustainable and connected transformation across functions.
Finally, the conversation touched on the structural constraints shaping progress. What is holding institutions back today: technology, data, regulation, or organization? While technology continues to advance rapidly, data quality, availability, and organizational readiness were consistently identified as the most immediate challenges.
Together, these reflections illustrated an industry steadily moving from intent to execution, with a clear focus on making AI practical, scalable, and aligned with the demands of a highly regulated environment.
The agenda continued with a product-focused perspective from Álvaro Nieto, Head of Product at Mirai RiskTech, who presented “AI in ALM: Our Vision,” offering a closer look at how Mirai AI’s capabilities can be translated into tangible solutions within day-to-day ALM workflows.
In his presentation, he outlined the current global adoption of artificial intelligence and its accelerating growth, before addressing the strategic challenges in balance sheet management and the evolving role of AI across the financial sector. He also explored what effective implementation looks like in practice, setting the stage for a deeper dive into Mirai’s approach to AI.
Particular attention was given to the concepts of Mirai Agent and Mirai Modeling Solution, allowing attendees to understand their added value, strategic advantages, and even practical use cases. Mirai Agent was presented as an ideal “digital colleague” with expertise across ALM, liquidity, FTP, planning, modeling, and regulatory frameworks, highlighting its strategic advantages and positioning it as both a platform expert and a balance sheet management specialist, capable of supporting institutions with advanced analysis and decision-making.
“We want it to be a true expert in the field, so that whenever a new requirement arises, whether regulatory or managerial, it can be understood and analyzed in a matter of hours or even minutes. And importantly, this ‘colleague’ will always be available to support us. How have we achieved this? The Mirai Agent is designed as an expert within the platform, with access to all the data we manage, as well as deep expertise in balance sheet management.”
Álvaro Nieto
The session concluded with an open Q&A, allowing participants to further explore key topics raised throughout the morning, before transitioning into a more informal networking session. Over coffee and a light aperitif, attendees had the opportunity to continue the conversation.
As the morning drew to a close, several key insights stood out:
ALM is evolving into a strategic partner, central to navigating uncertainty and driving value.
Artificial intelligence and market volatility are interconnected forces, jointly shaping the future of banking.
AI’s greatest impact in ALM lies in augmentation and enhancing expert judgment.
The true challenge is not whether to adopt AI, but how to do so in a way that preserves trust, control, and regulatory alignment.
Successful transformation requires more than technology: it demands clear strategy, strong governance, and prepared teams.
From Mirai RiskTech, we would like to extend our sincere thanks to all speakers and attendees who contributed to making this III Executive Breakfast a success.
The discussions reinforced a shared understanding: the industry is standing at the beginning of a transformation. As institutions continue to explore the intersection of strategic ALM and AI, the opportunity lies in turning vision into practical, scalable impact.
We look forward to continuing this conversation and to supporting financial institutions as they move toward a more agile, intelligent, and future-ready approach to balance sheet management.