Key views on Adoption of AI and Gen AI in asset management:
- Acuity Analytics surveyed 80 senior asset management representatives across the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific on their current AI adoption
- Only 5% of asset managers have fully integrated AI, while 37% report moderate adoption and 19% are not using it at all
- Data reveals an industry aware of AI’s potential but moving cautiously, with full integration still largely confined to the largest firms
Acuity Analytics surveyed 80 senior asset management representatives across the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific on their current AI adoption
The Annual Survey of Asset Managers 2026 was produced by Acuity Analytics, drawing on responses from 80 representatives of leading global asset management firms contacted through email and LinkedIn.
The respondent base spans a senior cross-section of the industry, including chief executives and heads of asset management (26%), chief investment officers (24%), chief operating officers (19%), heads of research, portfolio managers and analysts (17%), chief compliance officers (10%) and chief marketing officers (4%).
By assets under management, 36% of respondents oversee between $10bn and $100bn, 34% manage less than $10bn, and 30% manage more than $100bn.
Geographically, the survey is split evenly between the Americas and Europe at 45% each, with 10% from Asia-Pacific.
Among the questions explored was where respondents currently stand in their adoption of AI and generative AI.
Only 5% of asset managers have fully integrated AI, while 37% report moderate adoption and 19% are not using it at all
The results point to an industry still finding its footing with the technology.
The largest share of respondents, 37%, reported moderate adoption of AI and generative AI.
A further 24% described themselves as being in an exploratory phase, while 15% said they were at the initial stage of adoption.
19% said they were not using AI or generative AI at all.
Just 5% reported having fully integrated AI into their operations, a group drawn predominantly from the largest firms managing more than $100bn in assets.
Data reveals an industry aware of AI’s potential but moving cautiously, with full integration still largely confined to the largest firms
Taken together, more than half of respondents sit somewhere between exploration and moderate adoption, which paints a picture of an industry that is engaged with AI but has not yet committed to it at scale.
The 5% fully integrated figure is telling.
It suggests that meaningful, end-to-end AI deployment remains largely the preserve of the largest asset managers, those with the resources and operational infrastructure to absorb the investment required.
For the broader market, the gap between awareness and execution remains wide.
Asset managers have faced mounting pressure from fee compression, rising costs and the shift toward passive strategies, all of which make the efficiency gains AI promises increasingly difficult to ignore.
The technology can support a wide range of functions, from client query handling and compliance monitoring through to risk profiling and investment analysis.
Yet the pace of adoption suggests that structural and cultural barriers remain significant.
The firms that move beyond exploration and build genuine AI capability sooner are likely to gain a meaningful competitive advantage over those still weighing up where to start.
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