For decades, financial services have been weighed down by manual processes, operational inefficiencies and regulatory complexity. While firms have sought to improve their workflows through technology, true automation has remained elusive, often requiring heavy IT infrastructure, complex coding and significant resources. However, recent advancements in AI, automation and flexible technology platforms have changed the landscape—enabling firms to streamline operations, enhance compliance and improve client service without sacrificing governance or security.
At Polar 993, we have spent years refining our operational frameworks, cybersecurity standards and client service approach—all with a vision of leveraging technology to create a more efficient, scalable and service-oriented financial services firm. But the reality is that AI and technology alone does not solve inefficiencies—rather, the key to true transformation lies in breaking down business processes, structuring workflows and embedding automation in a meaningful and secure way.
This is the journey of how we built an AI-enabled financial services firm—not by chasing trends, but by methodically structuring our operations to ensure technology serves the business, rather than the business serving technology.
Laying the Groundwork: A Career-Long Pursuit of Automation
While AI adoption has accelerated in recent years, our approach to automation has been decades in the making. From when the founder of Polar 993, Adam Lindell, commenced his career as lawyer, he recognised the value of structured workflows and repeatable processes. Within days of starting work he began building precedent documentation—ensuring that routine legal documents could be efficiently managed rather than recreated from scratch.
Later, in co-founding Merrick Capital, Adam continued to implement technology-driven efficiencies—from building sophisticated trading platforms to implementing straight-through processing of financial transactions. His goal has always been the same: eliminate unnecessary manual work, reduce friction and create structured processes that enable businesses to scale without operational bottlenecks.
The real game-changer arrived in the last two years, with the emergence of AI-powered automation, no-code/low-code platforms and highly customizable relational databases. Today, firms no longer need extensive development teams to implement sophisticated automation. Platforms like Salesforce, when combined with AI, allow businesses to create structured, scalable automation solutions without deep coding expertise.
At Polar 993, this shift in technology created an opportunity—not just to modernise financial services, but to build a truly AI-enabled trustee and fund administration firm from a secure, structured foundation.
Breaking Down the Business: The First Step to AI Enablement
One of the biggest misconceptions about AI adoption in financial services is that it is as simple as layering automation onto existing processes. In reality, AI cannot optimise what is not first understood and structured.
At Polar 993, the first step in building an AI-driven operation was to break down every aspect of the business into its core components. We deconstructed our operations into 141 modular workflows, documenting each process, identifying inefficiencies and structuring data flows to ensure that automation could be implemented with precision.
This exercise provided two crucial benefits:
- It ensured operational clarity—before automation was introduced, every function had been analyzed, documented and optimized for efficiency.
- It allowed for scalability—rather than patching AI onto fragmented systems, we built a structured, AI-compatible foundation from the start.
Security and Compliance: The Prerequisite to AI Adoption
Before AI automation could be implemented, we needed to ensure that our core infrastructure was secure, resilient and compliant with industry-leading cybersecurity and regulatory standards.
- We undertook a comprehensive cybersecurity audit, ensuring compliance with the Australian Essential 8 framework—the highest level of cybersecurity accreditation available.
- Our operational controls and risk management systems were audited by Ernst & Young, aligning with GS007 standards, a benchmark for governance in financial services.
- Every aspect of data handling, client reporting and fund administration was optimized for security before automation was introduced.
This approach ensured that Polar 993 was not just building an AI-enabled firm, but one that was built on a foundation of trust, compliance and security.
Salesforce as the Backbone: The Right Platform for AI Integration
Once our business was structured and secured, the next challenge was choosing the right technology platform to integrate AI and automation seamlessly.
Rather than building custom infrastructure from scratch, we leveraged Salesforce—a powerful, scalable and highly customisable relational database. Salesforce offered:
- Enterprise-grade security, ensuring client data remained protected.
- A malleable user interface, allowing for custom workflows and automation without
requiring deep coding expertise. - Integration with AI, enabling process automation, compliance tracking and
operational efficiency in a way that was both scalable and adaptive.
By embedding AI into our Salesforce infrastructure, we eliminated manual processes, reduced administrative overhead and enhanced transparency for fund managers and investors—all while maintaining full compliance oversight.
AI as a Tool for Growth, Not Just Efficiency
One of the most important lessons we have learned is that AI is not just about making businesses more efficient—it’s about enabling firms to scale and expand their services. With AI-driven automation reducing the burden of compliance tracking, reporting, and operational workflows, Polar 993 was able to focus its strategic resources on business expansion. As part of this evolution, we obtained a variation to our Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL)—expanding our authorisations to include retail and registered schemes.
This expansion was driven by:
- Growing demand from offshore fund managers seeking to raise capital in Australia.
- The increasing growth of alternative assets and inclusion on wealth management platforms, requiring a more sophisticated, technology-driven compliance solution.
- The ability to scale regulatory operations without increasing administrative complexity, thanks to our AI-enabled infrastructure.
By leveraging AI, automation, and structured technology, Polar 993 has successfully expanded its licensing, broadened its service offerings and improved the client experience.
The Future of AI in Financial Services: A Balance of Technology and Client Service
While AI has transformed how trustee services and fund administration are managed, one thing remains unchanged: client service is paramount.
At Polar 993, AI is not replacing human expertise—it is enhancing it. By eliminating manual, repetitive tasks, AI enables our team to focus on high-value, client-focused interactions, ensuring that every solution is tailored, structured and designed to meet our clients’ evolving needs.
As the financial services industry continues to evolve, firms that embrace structured automation, AI, and client-centric service models will be the ones that thrive. Polar 993 is proud to be at the forefront of this shift—leveraging AI not just for efficiency, but for smarter, more secure and more scalable financial services solutions.
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