Investment to preserve Western democracy

Former FDIC chief innovation officer Sultan Meghji has a dark fear that drives his investment mission: the ability of Western democracies to survive the next century.

Of the note: Meghji was the FDIC’s first chief innovation officer. He quit just over a year ago, and published an Op-Ed upon his departure, asserting the government’s reluctance to embrace necessary technological change.

Details: Meghji now invests his own capital across various sectors (fintech included) and advises venture capital firms such as Frontier Fund and Reciprocal Ventures.

This conversation has been edited for clarity.

What is your framework for investing?

• I am concerned about the survival of our civilization – Western democracy – into the next century. There is a huge autocratic push around the world, and here in this United States we have seen some populism and proto-fascism.
• I invest in three different areas, all under the umbrella of operationalizing our new technology to improve democratic populations around the world: bringing advanced manufacturing (like semiconductors) back to the US; next-generation healthcare (such as life extension); and the next generation of financial infrastructure.

Tell me more about your fintech mission.

• So much of America’s soft and diplomatic power over the last century has been based on our ability to control markets from the global reserve currency to the energy markets to the actual financial technology that people use to run their banks, to run their payment systems.
• But we are in a moment where American technology is not representative of what the world wants.
• So I think about how much of our financial systems run on terribly legacy technology – and using artificial intelligence to remove friction in those environments. I’m also thinking about investing to fix the huge discrepancy between different racial and gender categories in the United States

What applications do you see for generative AI in fintech? Several large banks have particularly clamped down on use.

• Right now, a tremendous amount of energy and paperwork goes into resolving fraudulent bank transactions. We have AI that will identify suspicious activity, but then a bunch of people run around to confirm and have to manually submit a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) to the authorities.
• Just imagine if generative AI gets to the point where it can see a risk that has happened, and it can reach out to the customer and say, “Hey, did you do this?” It then creates the SAR and communicates with regulators.
• I am waiting for someone to introduce that company. I would invest in it.

Could you imagine going into government again?

• Absolutely. I advise parts of the federal government.