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AB CarVal is redefining what it means to bring artificial intelligence into investment management. With Sigma’s AI Query, the firm has built a secure AI foundation that transforms complex legal documents into instant answers, automates workflows across credit portfolios, and empowers more than 500 business users with real-time insights.
This groundbreaking work has earned AB recognition as the winner of Sigma’s AI Pioneer Award, which celebrates innovators who combine AI and data to unlock new value.
Before adopting Sigma, AB’s private alternatives division wrestled with data chaos. Traders and analysts worked in Excel, pulling from inconsistent sources and often arriving at conflicting answers.
“Instead of analyzing trades or evaluating deals, they were spending hours cleaning spreadsheets.”
- Albert Obeng, Head of Technology for Private Alternatives
“We had highly skilled people doing work that belonged to a data engineer,” said Obeng. “Instead of analyzing trades or evaluating deals, they were spending hours cleaning spreadsheets.”
The inefficiency and risk reached a tipping point. Leadership demanded a single source of truth—a platform where metrics could be trusted, governance enforced, and business users empowered.
AB is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with business intelligence and AI. By pairing Snowflake Cortex with Sigma, the firm has created a chatbot that applies large language models (LLMs) to highly sensitive fund documents without ever exposing data outside its secure Snowflake environment.
For example, private fund indenture documents can run 80+ pages and are packed with complex legal terms. With Sigma, business users can now ask questions like “What are the investment limits for this fund?” and get an answer instantly—no more manual parsing, no risk of data leakage.
“It gives us the power of AI without sacrificing security.”
- Albert Obeng, Head of Technology for Private Alternatives
“It gives us the power of AI without sacrificing security—and Sigma makes that power usable,” said Obeng.
This innovation earned AB recognition as a Sigma AI Award winner—a testament to how the firm is turning AI from hype into real-world impact. For AB, it’s not just about technology; it’s about giving investment professionals more time to focus on strategy, not spreadsheets or PDFs.
Today, Sigma centralizes AB’s pipelines from Snowflake, surfacing 15–16 terabytes of compressed data in dashboards purpose-built for action. Traders and deal teams can analyze positions, evaluate risk, and act on opportunities in real time.
“Sigma helps us deliver alpha by getting the right data in the right hands—fast.”
- Albert Obeng, Head of Technology for Private Alternatives
“The speed at which we can react to markets now is night and day,” Obeng said. “Sigma helps us deliver alpha by getting the right data in the right hands—fast.”
With Sigma’s workspace structure and role-based access controls, AB enables business units to self-serve without compromising security. Each team manages its own environment while Snowflake integration ensures enterprise-wide governance.
“Sigma integrates seamlessly with our Snowflake security model, so we can expose sensitive data confidently and at scale.”
- Albert Obeng, Head of Technology for Private Alternatives
“Security is woven into every layer of our stack,” Obeng explained. “Sigma integrates seamlessly with our Snowflake security model, so we can expose sensitive data confidently and at scale.”
Obeng’s team uses Sigma to track infrastructure costs, monitor Snowflake and Fivetran usage, and spot anomalies before they become issues.
“My job is to make sure the pipes are working—and with Sigma, I can see if anything’s leaking before it becomes a problem.”
- Albert Obeng, Head of Technology for Private Alternatives
“I like to joke that I’m a glorified plumber,” he said. “My job is to make sure the pipes are working—and with Sigma, I can see if anything’s leaking before it becomes a problem.”
These insights ensure technology investments are efficient and ROI is measurable.
Sigma’s writeback capability allows AB to handle workflows—like updating fund attributes or tracking compliance—directly in Sigma. No extra apps, no duplicate systems.
"Writeback changes the game."
- Albert Obeng, Head of Technology for Private Alternatives
“Writeback changes the game,” Obeng said. “It lets us incorporate user inputs directly into our workflows, without spinning up a separate system.”
As AB looks to the future, Sigma is poised to play an even larger role.
One priority is replacing legacy internal tools with modern data apps built directly in Sigma. Rather than procuring expensive third-party software or maintaining brittle custom apps, Obeng’s team sees Sigma as the platform for streamlining operations.
Another is expanding adoption of Ask Sigma—an AI assistant that lets business users create reports and dashboards with natural language.
“Ask Sigma could be the bridge that helps our users leave legacy tools behind and build live, scalable processes.”
- Albert Obeng, Head of Technology for Private Alternatives
“So many workflows are still stuck in VBA and Access,” said Obeng. “Ask Sigma could be the bridge that helps our users leave legacy tools behind and build live, scalable processes.”
AB also values Sigma’s rapid product development. As Sigma continues to release new capabilities—from multi-tenancy to enhanced AI integration—Obeng sees the partnership as a force multiplier.
“We do well as a small team because of vendors like Sigma. It’s a true partnership.”
- Albert Obeng, Head of Technology for Private Alternatives
“We do well as a small team because of vendors like Sigma,” he said. “You’re not just shipping features. You’re listening, incorporating our feedback, and extending what we can do without us having to build it ourselves. It’s a true partnership.”
Read more about how to query LLMs in Sigma here.
AB CarVal is a global asset manager overseeing investments across fixed income, multi-asset, and private alternatives, with $20 billion in assets under management. Within its private alternatives division—representing about 10% of the business—AB manages complex credit portfolios across the U.S. and Europe, structured deals, and esoteric assets. A lean, 25-person technology team supports 500+ business users, delivering the data foundation that powers billions in investments.
