Tariq Khan, director of business development and sales at wealth tech Objectway, predicts a year defined by a “confluence of disruption, innovation, and generational change.” As a new wave of investors embraces a digital-first economy, technology is expected to take centre-stage, driving developments in artificial intelligence (AI), digital assets, cybersecurity, data privacy, and regulation.

Artificial intelligence

Over the past decade, AI has evolved from a nascent technology into a cornerstone of the wealth management industry.

Despite recent concerns over a potential ‘bubble,’ which have caused a slight uptick in market volatility, Mr Khan believes the industry will adopt a “cautious but deliberate approach” to AI in 2026.

He expects advisers to transition from “product-led to outcome-focused guidance, leveraging AI co-pilots to automateroutine tasks, enrich insights, and deliver personalized, real-time interactions with clients.”

As firms continue to navigate residual uncertainty, they are likely to support the development of generative AI (GenAI) from experimentation to enterprise deployment, thereby “transforming the delivery of advice, risk management, and engagement at scale,” Mr Khan explained.

Hybrid advisory platforms, AI assistants, and integrated client data are expected to be in high demand, with many firms already envisioning how agentic AI and GenAI will reduce costs and enhance operational efficiency.

GenAI can produce insights, reports, and analysis from existing datasets, while agentic AI can autonomously execute actions, such as rebalancing portfolios, personalised reporting, or initiating communication, based on real-time data. Together, they can streamline routine tasks and enhance operational efficiency, enabling advisers to focus on delivering more outcome-focused, relationship-driven guidance.

Nonetheless, Mr Khan pointed out that AI adoption remains uneven: “Some firms are scaling up enterprise-wide, while others are testing limited pilots,” he acknowledged.

To accelerate AI adoption in 2026, firms must overcome key barriers, including talent shortages, regulatory uncertainty, data privacy, and model reliability concerns.

“Firms that fail to address these risks may struggle to maintain trust and continuity in an increasingly digital landscape,” Mr Khan warned.

Digital assets

However, technology is not comprised of AI alone.

Roopalee Dave, UK head of wealth management at EY, a professional services firm, believes that the financial sector will continue to evolve in its approach to digital assets, with a rise in tokenisation and crypto-based investments.

Ms Dave noted that the industry has already moved from “pilots to practical rollout.”

In October 2025, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) lifted its ban on the sale of crypto-assets to retail and wealth investors in the UK, reflecting its wider ambition to establish a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency and digital assets.

This decision followed the development of federal regulations in the US, with President Donald Trump signing the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act in July 2025.

The GENIUS Act established a framework for the issuance of stable coins by mandating users to comply with full-reserve banking practices and money-laundering regulations.

Meanwhile, the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) has become fully operational, following its initiation in June 2023.

Ms Dave expects these regulatory changes to encourage greater investment in digital assets. “With clearer regulatory guidance and risk readiness in place, we will see wealth firms offer more flexible opportunities for clients to safely capture the next wave of growth,” she explained.

Ms Dave also gestured towards a rise in ‘tokenisation’ – the digital representation of assets on distributed ledger technology.

By turning traditional assets into digital units, tokenisation has the potential to increase efficiency, foster competition, and broaden access to private markets.

Cybersecurity and data privacy

Any advancement in technology is accompanied by a unique set of risks, and given the continued digitalisation of business, government, and the private sphere, robust cybersecurity is becoming more essential than ever before.

According to HSBC Private Bank’s Q1 2026 Investment Outlook, Resilience in a Transforming World, cyberattacks are forecast to have an overall economic cost of between $1.2 and $1.5 trillion in 2025. The threat of these attacks continues to be a concern heading into 2026.

Tobias Marbler, chief information officer at HSBC Private Bank and Asset Management, has urged firms to invest in their operations as “the increased dependency on digital platforms will likely increase the risk of cyber attacks with more sophisticated threats, like deep fakes and identify fraud.

Meanwhile, regulatory pressure, particularly concerning AI, data privacy, and ethical use, will necessitate increased transparency and compliance.

The protection of data privacy remains another source of considerable distress.

In 2026, Mr Marbler expects to see firms and banks “investing to make sure they have strong foundations”, which allow them to adopt new technologies in a way that “meets the needs of their clients as well as regulatory authorities.”

Firms will be looking to “re-engineer” their core banking systems – and, in some cases replace them completely – to better support real-time data processing, among other tasks.

This will be particularly helpful for those who are looking for greater autonomy.