Twelve years into credit research, I spend a meaningful chunk of every week doing the same things: reading financial statements, extracting key ratios, summarising bond structures, and writing up the same analytical frameworks in slightly different language. It's necessary work — but it's also exactly the kind of pattern-heavy, information-dense task that large language models are increasingly good at.
That realisation didn't frighten me. It intrigued me.
The Question I Couldn't Stop Asking
What does the job of a credit analyst look like in five years, when AI handles the routine extraction and first-pass synthesis? Is the role diminished — or is it elevated, freed to focus on the judgment calls that actually move conviction?
I couldn't answer that question from the outside. The only way to develop a real view was to get hands-on: build things, break things, understand where the tools excel and where they fall flat in the specific context of credit research on Asian corporate bonds.
What This Blog Is
This page is my working journal for that exploration. I'll share:
- Experiments I've run — what worked, what didn't, and what surprised me
- Tools and workflows I've built to improve my research process
- Broader reflections on how AI is changing the analyst's craft
- Resources I've found genuinely useful (as opposed to the usual hype)
I'm not writing this as an AI expert — I'm writing it as a practitioner figuring it out in real time, with real work on the line.
Where I'm Starting
My first area of focus is the research workflow itself: how we gather information, structure analysis, and communicate conclusions. These are high-frequency, high-value tasks that touch every analyst, every day.
The goal isn't to automate the analyst. It's to give the analyst leverage — so the hours that used to go to mechanical extraction can go to the judgment and synthesis that actually differentiates a research product.
If you're a fellow credit professional curious about any of this, or someone working on AI tools for financial research, I'd genuinely love to connect. You'll find me on LinkedIn — link below.