A webinar with Focal AI founder John Connell on moving AI from pilot to firm-wide advisor capacity, without running afoul of Canadian privacy rules
More than $1 trillion is moving between generations this decade, the largest wealth transfer in Canadian history, and Vanguard research shows roughly two-thirds of heirs change advisors after they inherit. Many firms have bought AI to help advisors deepen relationships and hold those assets. Far fewer have advisors using it, and a tool that sits unopened protects nothing.
That gap is the focus of The AI Playbook for Canadian Wealth Firms: Bridge the AI Execution Gap or Get Left Behind, webinar led by John L. Connell, founder and CEO of Focal AI, the purpose-built AI assistant for Canadian wealth advisors. Going from a pilot to firm-wide use takes more than picking a vendor: which problems to solve first, what data and workflows must be in place, who governs the decisions, and whether to build or buy.
“The firms that win won't be the ones that bought AI first. They'll be the ones that deployed it well. The gap isn't ambition, it's execution: getting tool selection, compliance and governance right so advisors actually use it,” says Connell.
In May 2026, Canada's federal and provincial privacy regulators found that OpenAI's initial training of ChatGPT did not comply with Canadian privacy law, citing consent and overcollection. PIPEDA carries fines of up to $100,000 for certain offences, and the everyday exposure is just as real: implied consent in meetings, how audio and video are stored, and whether client data is training someone else's model.
Focal AI reclaims up to 15 hours per advisor each week through AI note-taking, coaching and data-entry automation. The session shows where to put that time: prospecting into the transfer, deepening top relationships, or serving inheriting clients.
What you will take away:
- A three-step playbook: opportunity identification, prerequisite mapping, and the build-versus-buy decision
- The PIPEDA and provincial pitfalls that derail AI deployments, and the questions to ask every vendor
- A framework for evaluating AI tools, generic versus purpose-built
- The KPIs that show a pilot is working, and when to scale it or kill it
- How to prepare for agentic AI before you need it
The assets are already moving. Firms that get advisors using AI now will keep more of those relationships; the ones that wait will hand them to competitors who moved first. In 45 minutes, plus live Q&A, Connell lays out exactly where to start. He works with advisors across Financial Horizons, HUB, Manulife, CI Financial, IPC and Canaccord Genuity.
Reserve your spot and register now
This article was produced in partnership with Focal A.
