Bridging the AI ambition gap in asset management: Global survey

AI is transforming the asset and wealth management industry, moving into investment decisions, compliance checks, and client engagement. This shift raises expectations for speed, accuracy, and personalisation.

Most firms know they need to respond: 73% of executives say AI is critical to their organisation’s future, and the pressure to turn early pilots into measurable results is growing.

Despite this, progress remains uneven. While many firms identify promising AI use cases, they face fundamental challenges such as fragmented systems, slow-moving cultures, and incomplete data. Although AI adoption is spreading across the value chain, a widening gap persists between ambition and execution. Some firms pursue AI initiatives with clear purpose and governance, while others remain constrained by small, unscalable experiments.

To understand these differences, Grant Thornton partnered with ThoughtLab on a global study of 500 financial institutions across 16 markets during Q3 2025. The findings show an industry moving past experimentation but still divided between firms that are structurally ready for AI and those that are not. 

The sample covers the full spectrum of investment providers, including asset managers (15%), wealth managers (14%), private banks (13%), hedge funds or private equity firms (12%), family offices (12%), broker-dealers (11%), and fintechs (12%). Responses were split 50/50 between general and technology management, and drawn internationally, with the largest shares from Europe (41%), Asia Pacific (31%), and the US (20%).

The report, The AI-Powered Investment Firm, sets out how leading firms embed AI into workflows, build the right data foundations, and prepare people for agentic AI - which can plan, act and make decisions across a workflow on its own, with humans stepping in only when needed. It also shows what holds firms back and what sets the leaders apart: clear strategy, staged delivery, and strong governance.

As Shona O’Hea, Grant Thornton’s Asset Management Head of Industry, puts it:

"The firms making the biggest impact aren’t rushing to adopt every new tool; they’re aligning AI to strategy, building in stages and staying focused on their unique goals.”

What the survey reveals: firms advance, but adoption is a challenge

AI is widely seen as transformative: nearly two-thirds of surveyed leaders expect it to fundamentally reshape industry operations. Adoption is already advancing across functions, facilitating compliance automation, enriched client insights, and operational streamlining.

But internal complexity is a major barrier. The survey report indicates organisational obstacles, fragmented technology, and regulatory uncertainty are slowing transformation.

For many firms, AI is more than a technical lift, especially as they begin to adopt agentic AI. It requires enterprise-wide alignment, leadership buy-in, and governance structures that embed AI into business strategy from day one.

Shane O’Neill, Partner, Consulting at Grant Thornton Ireland:

“AI will lift everyday productivity and embed agents across operations; firms must rethink operating models and oversight."

Where firms are focusing now

Firms are laying the groundwork for transformation: 77% have an effective AI strategy and roadmap in place. Traditional and generative AI remain a core focus. Most firms are building on earlier AI tools such as machine learning and natural language processing, with 71% planning to adopt GenAI within three years.

Across the front, middle and back office, adoption is strongest in predictable, high-volume tasks. 

Back-office functions—such as code development, business processes, and custody services—have been prime candidates for early AI deployment because of the efficiency and productivity gains they can yield. In the back office, 46% already use AI to write or edit code, 42% for business processes and 39% to support custody services.

In the middle office, most are using AI to automate compliance checks to quickly identify any violations. Many are also boosting data security and privacy by using AI to detect anomalies in real-time and respond immediately to potential threats. Overall, 57% use AI for regulatory and tax monitoring and 52% for data security. 

In the front office, nearly six out of 10 firms now use AI to deepen customer analysis (59%). Slightly fewer offer AI-enabled chatbots and self-service portals to provide clients with 24/7 personalized support (58% for conversational support and 54% for self-service portals). 

What is holding firms back

Cultural and technological hurdles persist. More than half of respondents cite slow-moving cultures and limited access to quality data as major barriers to AI adoption.

Data gaps are holding back progress. About half of firms have not built processes to clean, normalize, and tag internal data, or source high-quality external data, limiting AI’s effectiveness.

Returns are also mixed. Two-thirds report only modest ROI from AI, and 12% are seeing no returns or negative results.

What AI leaders are doing differently: Five best practices

If the numbers illustrate the opportunities and issues, the early successes of some firms point the way forward. ThoughtLab assessed firms based on their innovation and AI maturity to identify five best practices that set leaders apart.

• They create an AI vision and culture to inspire change. Leaders don't just deploy tools; they align AI strategy to business goals and foster a culture of experimentation and adoption. The real differentiator is not only use cases but an effective AI strategy that drives adoption, literacy, and long-term impact.
• They build an AI-ready IT and data platform. Infrastructure is key to success. Leaders invest in modern, cloud-native systems, scalable data lakes, and platforms that support secure AI deployment.
• They embed governance early. Clients, regulators, and internal stakeholders all need confidence in how AI is used. Leading firms build trust by embedding governance, oversight, and compliance into AI systems from the start, ensuring transparency, accountability, and responsible use.
• They prepare people for new ways of working. The asset manager’s role is evolving. As AI takes over routine tasks, humans will focus on creativity, strategy, and oversight. Leaders are already preparing their workforce and developing AI-literate talent.
• They design with the agentic era in mind. Agentic AI will handle end-to-end tasks with minimal prompting. Less than 10% are currently using agentic AI, but 18% say they plan to over the next three years. Leaders are preparing for this by redesigning workflows, expanding the use of generative AI, and embedding AI more deeply across investment, risk, and client-facing functions.

The agentic era 

The evolution toward fully autonomous, agentic AI processes promises a new era. Self-directed AI agents have the potential to manage complex tasks end-to-end, seamlessly embedded within the workforce model.

Karan Gulati, a US-based Consulting Partner at Grant Thornton Advisors LLC:

“Human workers will have peers in the form of AI agents that work and interact just like they do, and that are accountable for results. Humans will need to learn how to ‘operate’ or ‘activate’ AI processes within their job functions and step in to manage exceptions." 

Forward-thinking firms are already designing workflows where AI is not just an assistant, but a vital partner and enabler of innovation, efficiency, and superior results.

These firms are also focused on people: helping advisors and analysts use AI to lift productivity, improve oversight, and deliver better outcomes for clients.

Closing the gap between ambition and execution

The industry’s direction is clear. AI is already raising expectations for speed, accuracy, and personalisation across the value chain. Firms that treat it as a core capability are pulling ahead.

The survey indicates that tangible progress relies less on adopting novel tools and more on getting the essentials right: robust data foundations, consistent governance, defined use-cases, and teams equipped to leverage AI effectively.

Firms that build now for clarity, accountability, and human-led oversight will be better placed to use AI safely and at scale. Those that wait for perfect conditions risk falling behind as the technology moves on without them.

Grant Thornton’s Shona O’Hea, Karan Gulati, and Shane O’Neill served as strategic advisors and contributors to the survey’s development, providing key insights throughout the report.

Report

The AI powered investment firm

An AI playbook for wealth and asset management firms in the agentic era

December 2025

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