# AI for Financial Services Course (Self-Paced) Canonical URL: ## Overview This self-paced course helps financial services professionals build a practical Claude workflow from first use to full implementation. You’ll learn prompting, Projects, Artifacts, and tool integrations through real-world financial services examples and documents. Along the way, you’ll apply Claude to client communications, portfolio analysis narratives, compliance documentation, regulatory reporting, market research summaries, and internal process documentation, while reinforcing the need for professional review of all client-facing and compliance-related materials. By the end, you’ll have a personalized Claude system and a completed capstone client service package aligned to your role and organizational priorities. ## What you'll learn - Write structured prompts that produce accurate results for writing, analysis, summarization, and research - Set up and use Projects, Artifacts, Styles, and Memory to build a personalized Claude workflow - Apply advanced prompting techniques including role-based prompting, chain-of-thought reasoning, and the You Ask Me method - Connect Claude to workplace tools including Google Drive, Gmail, Excel, and PowerPoint - Apply Claude to core financial services workflows including client communications, portfolio narratives, compliance documentation, market research, and regulatory reporting - Build a complete financial services Claude system and produce a capstone client service package ready for professional review ## Curriculum #### Module 1: Getting Started with Claude AI - Explain how Claude works in plain language and identify the model tiers, plans, and interface - Understand the context window, how Claude processes information, and when to start new conversations - Practice your first Claude conversation using a financial services-specific prompt - Identify what Claude does well, what it doesn’t, and when human judgment is essential #### Module 2: Prompting Fundamentals - Apply the five-part prompt framework: context, task, format, constraints, and examples - Write effective prompts across five use cases: writing, summarization, analysis, research, and creative problem-solving - Recognize and fix common prompting mistakes that produce vague or unusable output - Practice prompting with financial services scenarios: drafting a client portfolio review letter, summarizing a regulatory update, and writing an investment committee briefing #### Module 3: Working with Files & Documents - Upload and analyze images, PDFs, spreadsheets, and documents directly in Claude - Use Claude to extract, compare, and summarize information from uploaded files - Work with financial services file types: portfolio reports, compliance checklists, market research PDFs, client account summaries, and regulatory filings - Complete a hands-on document analysis exercise using provided financial services sample files #### Module 4: Projects & Knowledge Bases - Explain how Projects use custom instructions and knowledge bases to organize ongoing work - Write effective Project instructions that encode your role, audience, format preferences, and rules - Upload reference documents and understand how RAG retrieves relevant content - Create a financial services Project for a client engagement or compliance review using provided sample documents and templates #### Module 5: Artifacts, Styles, Memory & Usage Management - Create reusable deliverables with Artifacts and edit them directly or through conversation - Build custom Styles that match your professional communication voice - Configure Memory to retain key context about you and your work across conversations - Apply usage management techniques to extend your plan value #### Module 6: Introduction to Claude Cowork - Explain what Cowork is and how it differs from the claude.ai chat interface - Read, write, and manage files from your desktop environment - Configure guardrails, file permissions, and network settings for safe use - Understand prompt injection risks and how to protect against them #### Module 7: Advanced Prompting & AI Tool Selection - Use role-based prompting, chain-of-thought reasoning, and multi-step workflows - Apply Extended Thinking, web search, and the You Ask Me technique for complex tasks - Compare Claude with ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini to choose the right tool for each task - Practice advanced prompting with financial services scenarios: analyzing a portfolio allocation for a client review, building a compliance audit response step by step, and preparing a quarterly market commentary #### Module 8: Context System, Connectors & Integrations - Build foundational context files and set Global Instructions that apply to every Cowork session - Connect Claude to Slack, Google Drive, Gmail, and other workplace tools - Use Claude natively in Excel and PowerPoint with the Office add-ins - Configure your context system and connections for financial services workflows, including portfolio analysis in Excel and client presentations in PowerPoint #### Module 9: AI for Financial Services — Core Workflows - Use Claude to draft personalized client communications: review letters, onboarding materials, and quarterly updates in your firm’s voice - Produce portfolio analysis narratives, performance summaries, and investment rationale documentation from data exports - Build compliance documentation, audit preparation materials, and regulatory response drafts with appropriate review gates - Summarize market research, economic commentary, and industry reports into client-ready or internal briefings - Complete a hands-on lab producing a multi-document financial services package #### Module 10: Capstone — Build Your Financial Services Claude System - Audit your financial services tasks and identify the highest-value opportunities for Claude assistance - Configure a personalized financial services Claude system: Projects, context files, Styles, and connected tools - Run a complete end-to-end client service workflow: portfolio review letter, market commentary summary, compliance documentation update, and client meeting preparation brief - Create a Week 1 action plan for applying what you’ve learned to your financial services role ## Instructors ### Steve Pesklo — Instructor Steve is an energetic trainer who focuses on applying technical concepts to everyday work practices. He is the founder and president of SoftLake Solutions, a company that specializes in providing data and AI applications to identify fraud for Internal Audit, Criminal Investigations, Forensic Accounting, Privacy, and Compliance. Steve brings a large amount of experience across multiple industries and government agencies. He is an expert in implementing large data analysis projects across the world, including Inland Revenue in the UK and Argentina, New Zealand, Africa and across Europe. Previously, he was the manager of Data Architecture and Data Services for a large mortgage company. He is a frequent speaker on data analytics and project management topics and speaks fluent German. He has been teaching at the Graduate School for over 10 years. Steve has an M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas and a B.S. in Computer Science from California Lutheran University and the Universität Salzburg in Austria. He is certified as a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), Project Management Professional (PMP), and a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM). ## Pricing **Tuition:** $899