Zia Karim

I started building trading systems at Salomon Brothers in London in 1997. At Goldman Sachs the work took me across Zurich, London and New York, including a rebuild of global regulatory, tax and client reporting in wealth management. Later, as a CTO, I built new platforms from the first version. My current companies draw on both.

When something is stuck, I start with what the institution is carrying: the systems, suppliers, contracts and decision rights that nobody chose all at once. Most slowness lives there, not in people’s talent or intent. So I try to understand what a system carries before deciding what to replace.

I’ve learnt to be generous with people and strict about accountability. Difficult change is hard on the people doing it. They deserve candour about that, and clear ownership of the result.

Judgement and authority have to sit with someone who can answer for the outcome, and execution is where that gets tested. The same applies to AI. Capability isn’t authority. A system earns its place when people can inspect, challenge and withdraw what it’s been allowed to do.

The companies, the advisory work and the writing are one project seen from different sides: giving institutions back the capacity to change, and showing in software that it can be done.

What I’m working on →