From Goldman to AI: How Rishi Bali Is Building Wall St's AI Transformation Layer (www.forbes.com)

Rishi Bali — a Goldman veteran who helped build credit and prime brokerage infrastructure — has launched OPCO.AI to tackle what he calls Wall Street’s trillion-dollar operational risk: brittle, manual back‑offices that leak value and amplify systemic stress. OPCO.AI positions itself as an “Operations Intelligence Layer” that fuses risk, operations and tech into a governed data spine powered by explainable automation and human‑in‑the‑loop AI copilots. The startup’s bet is strategic: the next alpha isn’t just better trading models but sealing basis points lost to slow closes, broken reconciliations, and PDF‑trapped covenant data across private credit, hedge funds, family offices and banks. Technically, OPCO.AI delivers a single source of truth with provable lineage, rapid delivery milestones (live data models and automated reconciliations in ~60 days; 60–80% repetitive workflow automation by ~120 days), cockpit‑grade UIs (Python/React), and an MCP “USB port” for agents across legacy systems. Roadmap features include agentic workflows and DLT‑based proof‑of‑human/intent for auditable actions; use cases span intraday P&L and risk, NAV closes cut from weeks to days, and AI parsing of loan docs to extract covenants. The approach contrasts with Big Four consultancy programs by emphasizing shipped systems, measurable outcomes (fewer exceptions, faster closes, cleaner audits) and handback of durable capabilities—changing the operating stack that underpins market resilience and regulatory posture.