What should the priorities be for wealth management firms in 2026?

As wealth management firms look ahead to the next 12 months, many will be getting their priorities into place, but what should be near the top of that list?

FinTech Global spoke to several leaders in the space to hear their thoughts on what the priorities of the next 12 months should be.

The continued adoption of AI

AI has dominated the trends across the financial services landscape for many years and 2026 will not see an end of this. Wealth management’s wider adoption of AI is inevitable. For instance, a recent report from PwC claimed that 73% of the asset and wealth management organisations it surveyed believe AI will be the most transformative technology over the next two to three years.

Some of the biggest boons of the technology, according to those surveyed, are revenue growth (80%), improving operational efficiency (84%) and improving employee productivity (72%).

With the rising interest around the technology, Richard Forss, CTO of EXANTE, believes a major priority wealth management firms should have is treating digital and AI capabilities as core infrastructure, rather than add-ons. He said, “Firms that continue to layer analytics or automation on top of legacy platforms will fall behind. Competitive advantage now comes from embedding data, AI and automation at the heart of the operating model.

“We are already seeing regional divergence. Adoption of advanced analytics and AI across the Gulf states is materially outpacing many Western markets. Our recent research highlights how the GCC is positioning AI as a primary economic growth engine, with tangible implications for financial services productivity and client experience.”

While there is a lot of hype around AI, many firms are still in the early stages of their adoption. As such, Shri Krishnansen, CCO at WealthOS, sees a major priority of the year being a move from AI pilots and into executable propositions. He said, “While 2025 was about chatbots and call center efficiency, 2026 must focus on “Agentic AI”—tools that don’t just answer questions but meaningfully plan, transact, and execute on behalf of the customer. This requires comprehensive transformation of end-to-end processes, extending beyond just installing an AI agent, but to ensuring that the correct technology foundations are in place across the whole stack from the front, through to the middle and back office.”

Moving towards real applications of the technology could also lead to another major priority – fixing data foundations. Yohan Lobo, Industry Solutions Manager for Financial Services at M-Files, highlighted a need for firms to build trusted, context-rich information foundations to extract the most value from their AI tools. He added, “Firms won’t unlock exciting AI value until they first fix the underlying problem: fragmented content. Client documents, emails, reviews, suitability evidence—these are the firm’s lifeblood, yet they can be scattered across repositories.”

Lobo also pointed to another priority for the year being a push for responsible AI. While the technology boasts incredible capabilities, it becomes easy to tack its word as gospel; however, it can make mistakes. Without having effective safeguards in place, firms are at risk of errors that could bring significant financial or reputational damage. Governments are starting to implement governance frameworks around AI, such as the EU’s AI Act, and guardrails are likely to become more common practice.

Lobo said, “Generative AI is a rocket, but data is the rocket fuel—and mishandling client information can be catastrophic for brand, reputation, and regulatory standing. Wealth management is fundamentally a trust business. Consistent governance, embedded permissions, and AI grounded in fully contextualised content are non-negotiable safeguards.”

In a similar vein, Forss also sees a priority in 2026 being a push for greater transparency for AI, but also in general. He urged firms to radically improve their transparency around client information, especially as real-time personalised insights become the norm. If a firm is using AI, then they must explicitly show how the outputs are generated. He added, “Trust is fragile; a lack of transparency will be discovered quickly and clients will not stay.”

Improving infrastructure

AI is not the only area of technology that wealth firms should have on their priority lists, with several of the respondents pointing to other important infrastructure in need of improvements in 2026.

For instance, Geert Bernaerts, finance manager at everyoneINVESTED, believes firms must focus on building end-to-end, hassle-free journeys. “Clients don’t judge you against other banks; they judge you against the best digital experience they had this week.”

This means firms need to ensure their entire customer-facing services are modern and efficient. This includes everything from onboarding of clients, through to risk profiling, goal setting, portfolio funding and rebalancing. It also includes consistent check-ins to ensure the customer is satisfied and is being provided with the best products. As an example, Bernaerts encouraged firms to implement digital onboarding services with eID/KYC reuse and straight through account opening. Other improvements include frictionless funding and instant portfolio previews, as well as proactive nudges for contribution reminders, life-event prompts and drift alerts.

He added, “And don’t forget accessibility: a WCAG‑compliant UI ensures the journey works for everyone, including clients with visual, motor, or cognitive impairments. This means proper colour contrast, keyboard navigation, screen‑reader support, and clear structure, meeting global accessibility standards.”

Elsewhere, WealthOS’s Krishnansen emphasised the importance for moving away from legacy to modern infrastructure. He noted, Firms must move away from 15- to 20-year-old legacy software (e.g. on-premise, monolithic, walled gardens, rarely used programming languages). The priority is adopting cloud-native infrastructure, API-first microservices and interoperable software that allow flexibility for both “Big Bang” or gradual migrations, ensuring the firm is resilient and future-ready.

Supporting the customer

Moving away from technology, another priority wealth managers should consider for 2026 is related to their customers.

everyoneINVESTED’s Bernaerts highlighted the rising demand from clients for tailored portfolios, clear rationale and a shared source of truth. As such firms should focus on scaling personalised advice with transparent, explainable automation. He said, “The winners will blend human expertise with explainable recommendations, not black boxes, across discretionary, advisory, and self-directed propositions.”

The ideal solution, according to Bernaerts, would boast personalisation that goes beyond simple risk scores, encompassing goals, sustainability preferences, cash flow, tax situations and constraints. Additionally, it would offer explainability on why actions are taken, ‘what-if’ simulators that clients can experiment with and mini educational lessons embedded into the service.

WealthOS’ Krishnansen shared a similar opinion on the importance of meeting the demands of customers, particularly surrounding personalisation, transparency and digital experience.

As such, sitting at the top of priority lists should be end-to-end digitalisation of customer journeys, specifically bridging the gap between front-office “fancy demos” and back-office execution, he explained.

“Why first? Personalisation and transparency are impossible if the front-end AI cannot “talk” to the core system to pull real-time data or execute a trade. Without this connectivity, digital experiences remain mere information systems rather than transactional tools.”

Another major focus for 2026, according to Krishnansen, should be scaling for the mass affluent. Currently, there is a significant advice gap between mass-market and high-net-worth individuals. He said, “There is a significant “advice gap” between mass-market and high-net-worth individuals. Wealth managers must prioritise scalable digital advice and “private banking light” services (e.g., Lombard lending, specialised tax wrappers like onshore/offshore bonds) to better serve this segment holistically.”

There is an opportunity to support the mass market with more services, with the majority willing to pay a premium for certain types of services. For instance, a recent study by McKinsey found that almost 80% of affluent households it asked stated they would rather pay a premium of 50 basis points or more for human advice than use a customized digital advice service priced at about ten basis points; 29 percent say they are willing to pay a premium of 100 basis points or more.

Others areas of priority

Finally, there were a number of other areas that could become priorities for wealth firms in 2026. For instance, EXANTE’s Forss highlighted the need for speed and resilience to be established within infrastructure. “If 2025 was defined by rapid change, 2026 will compress that further. Systems must adapt instantly under stress, not after the fact. The ability to scale, respond and remain stable in volatile conditions is no longer an operational concern, it is a competitive one.”

Meanwhile, M-Files’ Lobo highlighted the need for advisors to be given more free time to build relationships with clients. Unfortunately, manual workloads plague many wealth managers workloads, forcing them to spend multiple hours each week to handle tedious admin tasks. For Lobo, this is a waste when their time would be better utilised providing support for clients.

“More time with clients means deeper relationships, better financial plans, and higher lifetime value. But advisors still spend too much of their day searching for files or re-keying information into multiple systems. The performance advantage comes from shifting that effort to automated workflows, AI-generated summaries, with an experience that surfaces what matters where and how teams want to work.”

Finally, everyoneINVESTED’s Bernaerts pointed to improving data, compliance and operational resilience. He said, “In 2026, data quality, auditability, and operational resilience will be competitive advantages. Treat them like product capabilities.”

A great service would include a governed client profile that powers advice and reporting, with a unified place to manage objectives, sustainability preferences, suitability data and consent. Additional effective capabilities are automated suitability checks and change detection with audit trails, continuous monitoring of model performance and advice consistency across segments and cloud-forward architecture with clear RTO/RPO targets and playbooks for business continuity.

What to stop doing

The next 12 months are not only about adopting new technologies and strategies, but also about stopping things that are not beneficial to the firm. This might include reducing the reliance on manual workloads when automation can make significant improvements or stopping an internal culture that put limits on certain areas.

everyoneINVESTED’s Bernaerts had five items on their list of what wealth managers should stop doing during 2026. Firstly, they should stop building bespoke point solutions for common problems. He said, “Every custom onboarding or suitability module you build must be secured, localised, audited, and maintained across devices and regulations. That’s high opex for low differentiation. Standardise with configurable, vendor-supported components and focus internal talent on your proposition design and portfolio IP.”

Elsewhere, he encouraged firms to stop treating compliance as a parallel process, with suitability, disclosures and audit trails needing to be embedded at the design level to ensure compliance is a foundation. Next, he called for advisor workflows to stop being run on email and spreadsheets. “These become shadow systems with poor lineage. Move to case managed, API-driven workflows with role-based access, activity logging, and model governance.”

Bernaerts also encouraged firms to stop measuring success with vanity metrics. Instead of monitoring page views, which do not show real progress, they should monitor time-to-value, completion rates, advice explainability usage, client comprehension, retention and advice consistency across segments.

Finally, Bernaerts urged firms to stop creating complexity that clients can’t navigate. Product proliferation confuses investors and advisors, he noted. “Curate a simpler shelf, default to model portfolios where appropriate, and offer clear upgrade paths to personalised mandates when data warrants it.”

EXANTE’s Forss also shared their opinion on what wealth managers should stop doing in 2026. The top of the list was treating regulatory work as discretionary. He noted that regulatory delivery is the non-negotiable baseload of an organisation. “Any attempt to defer it in favour of “strategic” initiatives does not create efficiency, it simply accumulates operational and regulatory risk.”

When the baseload is secured, firms should then look to stop funding business or transformation initiatives that lack clearly defined objective and measurable returns on investment. He noted that every non-regulatory initiative should compete for capacity and firms are overflowing with projects because they are easy to start and hard to stop, not because they deliver demonstrable value.

He added, “Legacy systems expose this failure of discipline most clearly. As regulatory expectations increase, organisations respond by repeatedly patching and maintaining ageing platforms. At some point, that activity should force a strategic reassessment. The question is no longer how to extend the system again, but whether it should be replaced, outsourced, or retired entirely. Platforms that require constant manual intervention, bespoke reporting, or operational workarounds are not just inefficient — they erode regulatory confidence and consume scarce delivery capacity.”

This also relates to manual, spreadsheet-driven processes in operations, reporting and risk management. Forss believes these tools persist because they seem flexible and inexpensive, but in reality they lack scalability, buckle under stress and are difficult to evidence to regulators. “In practice, they become a hidden extension of legacy systems, absorbing effort that should be invested in automated, traceable controls.”

He concluded, “In 2026, the discipline is clear: regulatory delivery first; business initiatives second — and only where the return is explicit, measurable and defensible.”

As for M-Files’ Lobo, there were three issues he encourages wealth managers to stop doing in 2026, especially if they are looking to reallocate resources for more valuable initiatives. The simple answer is to stop behaviours that create operational friction.

For instance, firms should stop relying on folder-based repositories and disconnected silos. If a firm has documents scattered across the business, it is impossible to build context. This results in AI that cannot reason, compliance that is unable to scale and teams that fail to move with velocity. “This is the core source of operational friction,” he said.

Secondly, Lobo suggests managers stop using AI as a layer on top of ungoverned information. The reason is because the technology lacks the ability to create value when fuelled by inconsistent, out-dated, or poorly classified content.

Next, Lobo suggested firms should stop accepting manual processes as ‘the cost of business,’ He said, “Whether onboarding, suitability reviews, or periodic updates, workflows heavy with document handling are the first place firms can eliminate friction and unlock a performance advantage.”

Finally, he urged advisors to stop working across multiple systems. He noted that meeting advisors where they work can eliminate duplication and errors, and can empower them with real-time context to drive improved interactions and decision making.

Closing off the mistakes to stop making in 2026, WealthOS’ Krishnansen believes wealth managers should stop ‘patching legacy systems’ and maintaining redundant, siloed tech stacks.

At the top of his list was to “Stop the ‘sunk cost’ fallacy.” It is common for firms to waste resources into maintaining out-dated systems that are multiple decades old and lack modern technology foundations, such as standardised data models and APIs for interoperability. He said, “This “tech debt” acts as a drag on innovation, preventing the implementation of AI and personalised portfolios.”

While AI is often pitched as the future, there are still mistakes firms need to stop making. Krishnansen noted that there needs to be an end to isolated AI experiments. Krishnansen warned that if an AI tool is incapable of connecting to core infrastructure to execute a journey, then it is a ‘rogue’ project and waste of budget.

Finally, he wants to see the end of the one-size-fits-all servicing. While these methods have been perfect at supporting more clients, they are not aligned with modern customer demands. He said, “Move away from manual, labour-intensive servicing for lower-AUM clients. By automating these administrative tasks, firms can reallocate their human capital to high-value activities like complex financial planning and nurturing high-net-worth relationships.”

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