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AI That Protects, Enables, and Empowers: Derivative Path’s Approach to Responsible Innovation

How Derivative Path is thoughtfully integrating AI to enhance efficiency, accelerate innovation, and deliver better outcomes for clients.

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Brad Jolicoeur
Managing Director, Application Platform
The fintech velocity

AI as a Strategic Enabler at Derivative Path

In the race to innovate, speed is a powerful advantage, but it cannot come at the cost of trust. At Derivative Path, we see Artificial Intelligence as a powerful accelerant, but one that must be wielded with purpose and discipline. While other fintechs may prioritize speed above all else, we believe that thoughtful, responsible innovation is the only path to creating lasting value.

As our Chief Technology Officer, Chris Renaud, explains:

Fintechs generally have access to similar tools, but our edge is how we adapt and apply them—safely, intelligently, and with purpose.

This philosophy is our competitive edge. It guides how we integrate AI across our business, ensuring it works hand-in-glove with our people, processes, and platform. Our goal is not just to be fast; it’s to be right. Every AI-driven enhancement must first protect our clients, then enable our teams, and ultimately empower financial institutions to serve their customers better.

A Framework for Responsible AI: Protect, Enable, Empower

We frame our AI strategy around three clear imperatives. This isn’t a checklist; it’s the engine of our innovation:

  • Protect: Governance as an Accelerator. We start with a “governance first” foundation. By building our AI solutions on a modern, secure framework with compliance baked in, we de-risk innovation from the start. This robust architecture allows us to experiment and deploy new capabilities with confidence, knowing that client trust and data integrity are always protected.
  • Enable: Building Our Internal “AI Factory”. We use AI to accelerate our own development lifecycle. By embedding generative AI into our engineering workflows, we reduce repetitive tasks, automate testing, and shorten development cycles. This frees up our experts to focus on what they do best: advising clients and building next-generation solutions.
  • Empower: From Our Platform to Your Workflow. Only after being rigorously vetted within our own systems do we embed AI capabilities into DerivativeEDGE®. We’re not interested in novelty features; we deliver tools that provide tangible value. We empower our clients with new insights and streamlined workflows that drive faster, more informed decision-making.

The Road Ahead

This article is the third in a continuing series that highlights how Derivative Path is leveraging AI to responsibly transform our business and the services we deliver. Earlier perspectives by Kristin Kelly and Chris Renaud framed the importance of thoughtful adoption and foundational integration. Here, we build on that foundation with a clear articulation of how Derivative Path’s approach is designed to protect, enable, and empower.

AI is a powerful accelerant. But in our view, success depends on more than technology. It requires a commitment to safety, governance, and client-first thinking. That is the path we are taking at Derivative Path, and it is one that ensures long-term value for our clients, partners, and employees.

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Brad Jolicoeur

Brad Jolicoeur is the Managing Director of Application Platform at Derivative Path, where he architects and leads the development of enterprise software solutions. With a deep expertise in distributed systems, cloud computing, and software architecture, he has a proven track record of driving innovation and optimizing technology operations. Prior to Derivative Path, Brad held leadership roles in software development and consulting, specializing in microservices architecture and SaaS platforms. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from Salisbury University’s Perdue School of Business and completed the Executive CTO Program at Wharton Executive Education.

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