In-depth and unprecedented global study, spanning 16 countries, will analyze how investment firms will harness AI across their front, middle, and back offices to meet rapidly changing customer and employee needs

As AI innovation enters the agentic AI era, ThoughtLab, a leading global research firm, has launched a landmark study with top firms providing services to the wealth and asset management industry, including FNZ, the Grant Thornton Advisors LLC (Grant Thorton) multi-national platform, ServiceNow, Amazon Web Services (AWS), London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), and Publics Sapient. The research will explore how the latest advances in AI and other transformative technologies will reshape the investment sector.

The new research initiative —The AI-Powered Investment Firm: How Wealth and Asset Management Providers Will Transform Their Businesses Through AI — will deliver a first-of-its-kind actionable roadmap for succeeding in the next age of AI. It will be backed by rigorous analysis, expert insights, best practice use cases, and hard performance data. The study will provide financial services executives with an evidence-based guide for driving business transformation and performance through AI and related technologies, such as end-to-end platforms.

It will show how firms can use AI-enabled digital solutions across their value chains to create personalized customer experiences, build employee and advisor productivity, minimize risks and fraud, generate cost efficiencies, close the advice gap, and ultimately drive new levels of profitability and growth. As part of the initiative, the research team will develop the first industry-specific AI-maturity model for wealth and asset management firms, which can be used to benchmark and optimize AI performance.

“AI will give industry executives the tools to navigate profound shifts already transforming the investment landscape, including an $80 trillion-plus wealth transfer to a new digital generation with high demands for personalization, product democratization, new business and service models, and reduced fees,” said Lou Celi, ThoughtLab’s CEO and program director. “Our pioneering research will provide wealth and asset management executives with the decision support they need to propel true strategic change through AI and other groundbreaking technologies.”

A look into the industry’s AI-driven future

This comprehensive research program is being spearheaded by ThoughtLab and FNZ, the global wealth management platform; as well as Grant Thornton, a professional services provider; ServiceNow, the AI platform for business transformation; AWS, a leading provider of cloud computing services and AI technologies; Publicis Sapient, a prominent digital business transformation company; London Stock Exchange Group (LESG), a global supplier of financial markets data and infrastructure, and Wireside Communications, an award-winning, independent public relations agency. It will be rolled out with the collaboration of a coalition of leading wealth and asset management firms, research institutions, and AI experts. The program includes:

• A global benchmarking survey of 500 financial institutions in 16 markets, across asset levels and types of business.
• Insights from an advisory board of executives from top wealth and asset management firms and industry experts from around the world.
• Analysis of the use of latest AI technologies, such as generative, agentic, and multimodal, in combination with adjacent technologies, such as modern IT platforms, blockchain, and data management systems.
• In-depth interviews with executives from investment firms identified as leaders in AI transformation, as well as with AI specialists.
• Rigorous benchmarking and maturity modeling of the AI-enabled strategies, practices, investments, and performance results of surveyed institutions.

The study will answer critical questions on the impact of AI on the wealth and asset management industry, including:

1. How will AI transform investment firms over the next three years? In which ways will AI-powered firms operate differently than others? What will it mean for the future of work?
2. What are the most effective AI use cases for investment firms across the front, middle, and back office? What performance returns are firms seeing from these initiatives?
3. How can AI and related technologies support wealth advisory firms and asset management providers as hyper-personalized services become the norm across all wealth segments?
4. How is the global AI regulatory landscape evolving, and what impact will it have on the ability of investment firms to innovate quickly and responsibly?
5. What steps should investment firms take now to prepare for the next AI era? What does a successful roadmap to AI leadership look like?
6. Which challenges are firms facing on their AI journeys, and how can they overcome them?

As part of this open research initiative, the study group will provide regular updates on the program to the global wealth and asset management community over the next three months, along with the latest analysis, views from industry practitioners, and useful data resources. The full study findings, actionable insights, and related decision-support tools will be released in the fourth quarter of 2025.

About ThoughtLab

ThoughtLab is an innovative thought leadership firm that provides fresh ideas and rigorous analysis to help business and government leaders cope with transformative change. ThoughtLab specializes in assessing the impact of technology on industries, cities, and markets. Our services include fielding business, consumer, investor, and government surveys; organizing executive interviews, meetings, and advisory groups; conducting economic modeling, benchmarking, and performance analysis; and developing white papers, eBooks, and customer-facing analytical tools.

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“Our pioneering research will provide wealth and asset management executives with the decision support they need to propel true strategic change through AI and other groundbreaking technologies,” said Lou Celi, ThoughtLab’s CEO and program director