In this episode of the Financial Marketing Insights podcast, we spoke with Paul Taylor - long-time financial services professional, former Swift expert, and now CMO in the automation and AI space - about his career journey, the evolving role of marketing in tech-driven environments, and why leaning into discomfort is the key to staying relevant.

From banking operations to global events, Paul’s path has been anything but linear. With nearly three decades in finance-related roles, his insights reflect a rare blend of operational depth, vendor-side agility, and marketing leadership.

From Settlements to Swift: A Career Built on Problem-Solving

Paul’s career began in the trenches of banking operations - settlements, stock lending, prime brokerage - at firms like Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse before making a decisive leap to the vendor side.

“I thought it would be quite nice to be on the side of people supplying answers to problems,” he said. “Instead of being the person sat there with the problems, waiting for someone to come along.”

That mindset carried him to Swift, where he started in securities services and quickly became involved in positioning and messaging - helping shape competitive narratives around trade matching and financial crime compliance.

His time at Swift culminated in leading marketing across multiple domains, including the flagship Sibos event in London - a moment that held personal significance.

“It was over 14,000 people together in a location down at the Excel that my family kind of hail from,” Paul recalled. “So it was just a really special moment for me to be standing there responsible for this very big show, literally just over the docks from where my great-grandparents grew up.”

From Messaging to Machine Learning: The CMO Leap

After Swift, Paul stepped into a CMO role at an automation vendor - a move that placed him at the heart of one of the most dynamic sectors in tech.

“If there’s a process worthy of a name, it can be automated,” he explained. “And now, with AI, we’re injecting the brains into the worker - while robotic process automation (RPA) provides the arms and legs.”

His company serves financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing clients - all seeking to streamline manual tasks and unlock new efficiencies. But Paul sees the rise of agentic technologies as more than just operational transformation.

“Any task that’s manual today will probably be reshaped - if not removed - over the next few years,” he said. “If you’re not already thinking about how to use automation in your work and daily life, you’re going to be left behind.”

Even his weekend conversations with his 14-year-old son revolve around coding frustrations and automation opportunities - a sign, he says, of how deeply embedded these technologies will become in future generations.

Human in the Loop: Creativity, Judgment, and the Role of Experience

As AI and automation evolve, Paul is clear-eyed about the role humans still play - especially in marketing.

“This is where your intelligence comes in. Your creativity. Your reasoning. Your decades of experience,” he said. “You can ask an AI tool to develop content, but if it’s off on a tangent or hallucinating, you need to re-steer it.”

He describes this phase as “human in the loop” - a critical window where marketers shape, refine, and guide AI outputs to align with brand values and strategic goals. And while agentic technologies may eventually self-correct and rebuild autonomously, Paul believes we’re still in a period where human oversight is essential.

Paul noted that AI platforms now allow marketers to feed in brand voice, tone, customer profiles, and persona data - creating guardrails that prevent rogue outputs and ensure relevance.

“The days of asking for ten new headcount to build demand are over,” he said. “You have to be flexible and imaginative in how you solve problems.”

Favourite Projects: From Sibos to Scalable Marketing Foundations

When asked about standout projects, Paul returns to Sibos London - a career highlight that blended personal heritage with professional impact. But his current role has offered a different kind of challenge: building marketing foundations from the ground up.

“There was no real framework when I joined,” he said. “So it’s been a labour of love - rebranding, messaging pivots, analyst relations, and climbing back into the leader segment of our tech category.”

He’s especially proud of how automation and AI are being applied to human-centred use cases - from helping police officers spend more time in the field to enabling predictive crime prevention through data fusion.

And in financial services, the impact is equally tangible.

“We’re seeing 100% accuracy in trade reconciliations,” he said. “And a 20% increase in breaks resolved on day zero - which has real implications for funding, risk, and regulatory control.”

Digital workers - bots that operate 24/7 - are transforming workflows. By the time human staff arrive at their desks, much of the grunt work is done. What remains are the exceptions - now surfaced with richer context and data.

“The use cases are only limited by imagination,” Paul said. “And that’s what makes this space so exciting.”

Challenges, Trust, and the Rise of Human Agency

As the conversation turned to industry challenges, Paul didn’t hesitate: “We’re all here to deal with challenges. Otherwise, we’d be off by the sea having fun.”

From budget constraints to proving impact, marketing teams are under pressure to do more with less. But Paul sees data as a powerful ally - enabling marketers to track ROI, pipeline mix, and deal outcomes with increasing precision.

Still, the bigger challenge is cutting through noise.

“You need the right material, at the right time, for the right person,” he said. “And AI makes it easier than ever to understand what people are actually struggling with.”

He’s optimistic about innovation - but only when it’s anchored in customer expectations, not novelty. And he’s candid about the legacy systems that still hold many financial institutions back.

“At some point, they’ll need to move to lighter code bases,” he said. “Otherwise, they’ll cease to be.”

But the perennial challenge remains trust. In a world of AI-generated content and algorithmic outreach, authenticity matters more than ever.

“How do you innovate and cut through noise while still maintaining trust?” Paul asked. “How do you stay personal, respect privacy, and avoid sounding like a bot?”

Insight, Confidence, and the Courage to Challenge

As AI-generated insights become more accessible, marketers face a new kind of challenge: internal resistance.

“We’re bringing new insights that sit uncomfortably with internal belief systems. Marketers need to build confidence - not just in the data, but in their ability to have real conversations with buyers.”

Paul points to the convergence of marketing, sales, and product teams - all being pushed closer together by the demands of AI, customer feedback, and rapid innovation.

“You’ve got to lean into it,” he said. “If you’re sitting there thinking, ‘This isn’t for me,’ you’re already behind.”

His example? A six-minute app build with his 14-year-old son - a reminder that experimentation isn’t just for the boardroom. It’s for the kitchen table, the classroom, and the next generation of creators.

And while today’s tools may be outdated tomorrow, Paul believes the mindset is what matters most.

“Hop on. Play around. See what you can do.”

Differentiation, Trust, and the Arms Race of Attention

As AI lowers the barrier to creation, Paul sees marketing not as obsolete - but more essential than ever.

“There’s a mass rush to get things front and centre,” he said. “But if you’re just coming to market with another ‘me too,’ it doesn’t really work.”

Differentiation, he argues, must be deliberate - whether through superior outcomes, flexible capabilities, or robust governance frameworks. And while personal productivity tools will continue to proliferate, the enterprise-grade solutions will need to follow - with trust, oversight, and security built in.

“It’s like the shift from horses to cars,” Paul said. “Now we’re moving from cars to self-driving cars. The same concerns apply - and they’ll need to be resolved.”

Final Thoughts

Paul Taylor’s journey is a testament to the power of curiosity, adaptability, and creative discomfort. From banking operations to AI orchestration, he’s shown that the future belongs to those willing to stretch beyond their comfort zones - and ask better questions along the way.

Whether it’s building marketing frameworks from scratch, sparring over a whiteboard, or coding an app with his teenage son, Paul’s approach is consistent: lean in, listen hard, and learn fast.

In a world where anyone can create, differentiation demands clarity. In a landscape flooded with content, trust demands authenticity. And in a time of accelerating change, leadership demands courage.

Because the most meaningful progress - in marketing, in technology, in life - rarely comes from certainty. It comes from leaning into the unknown, and finding your voice in the process.