Why this was the hardest project we've shipped
Finance is unforgiving. A wealth summary with a hallucinated number isn't a typo — it's a compliance event. We approached this knowing that "feels right" wasn't good enough; the system had to be verifiable.
"Our advisors were skeptical. The first draft I read, I tried to find something wrong with it. I couldn't. That's when I knew." — Priya N., Chief Investment Officer, Havéne
The trick: never let the model invent a number
Every numeric claim in every draft is grounded in a structured source. The agent doesn't generate performance figures — it retrieves them, then writes prose around them. If a number isn't in the structured data, the agent writes "[need data: 12-month return]" instead of hallucinating.
This single architectural decision is why first-draft approval rate hit 94% — advisors trust the numbers because the numbers came from their own data, not the model.
Compliance as a feature, not an afterthought
Every draft passes through a compliance pre-flight layer trained on FINRA's marketing rule (Rule 2210) and Havéne's internal style guide. Flagged drafts are sent back with the offending phrase highlighted. After six months in production, zero compliance flags have made it to a client.
What we'd do differently
We'd build the eval suite before the agent. Half of the first 28 days was spent inventing ways to measure "is this draft good?" — questions a finance domain expert could have helped us specify upfront. On the next finance project, we did exactly that.