Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester, UK
Project advert The democratization of finance is transforming global asset management. Retail investors, empowered by trading apps and AI-driven platforms, now control a rapidly expanding share of global assets projected to reach 62% by 2030. While this growth fosters financial inclusion, it also creates new and underexplored risks at the intersection of technology, human behaviour, and market structure. This PhD project will investigate systemic financial risks emerging from the convergence of agentic artificial intelligence and retail trading platforms. Using a combination of experimental analysis, threat modelling, and proof-of-concept demonstrations, the research will identify and map vulnerabilities that may impact both individual investors and global financial stability, as well as evaluate their broader socio-economic implications. The successful candidate will join a multidisciplinary supervisory team of experts in AI, cybersecurity, and finance, based in the...
