The year asset servicing’s evolution becomes ingrained into workflows
08 Jan 2026
Industry leaders anticipate the key drivers of change and forces that will mould the asset servicing industry in the new year
Image: rawpixel/stock.adobe.com
Clearing and Settlement
Dirk Loscher, CEO of Clearstream Europe and Head of Custody and Investor Solutions
Gearing Up For The Road Ahead
If 2025 was for planning, 2026 will be the year of gearing up for execution. The transition to T+1 is no longer a distant concept but an immediate strategic priority. Firms must now evaluate their most critical pain points and take proactive steps to mitigate the impending challenges. For this transition to succeed, we must concurrently focus on building stable, deep liquidity pools for European capital markets. Initiatives such as extending trading hours and aligning market standards — without sacrificing the stability of netting facilities — are crucial to enhancing the attractiveness of our connected marketplace.
This evolution will be supported by the boosted adoption of digital technologies and assets, including distributed ledger technology (DLT), crypto assets, and stablecoins, which promise enhanced efficiency and cross-border flexibility. Furthermore, the FASTER initiative, which aims to simplify Europe’s complex tax landscape, will be a key focus, not only for us. While complete harmonisation may remain elusive, our role will be to manage these local complexities, shielding clients from operational burdens. Ultimately, in a world of constant change, the drive towards greater market harmonisation is more critical than ever. We must adjust to this new reality.
Val Wotton, Managing Director and Global Head of Equities Solutions, DTCC
2026 will be a critical year for Europe’s transition to T+1 settlement. The European Union, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the UK have all set October 11, 2027, as their go-live date. The 2024 move to T+1 in the US provides insights for a successful transition, but Europe’s fragmented market structure creates unique challenges for market participants. Successful T+1 preparation across the region demands automation. Manual interventions and bottlenecks in post-trade processes need to be addressed to enable same-day trade allocation and confirmation.
2026 will also be a crucial year in readiness for T+1. Firms that invest in straight-through processing (STP), modernised architecture, and testing with infrastructure providers will emerge not only as regulatory compliant but will also benefit from the capabilities and efficiencies that automation provides. While preparations should now be well under way, it’s not too late for market participants to ensure readiness for Europe’s move to T+1.
Global markets are also undergoing huge transformations in the front office, with major exchanges actively exploring 24/5 trading. DTCC continues to work closely with exchanges, regulators, and industry partners to ensure a smooth, phased transition to 24/5 trading. These efforts not only address today’s needs but also lay the foundation for a future transition to 24/7 trading as industry infrastructure and regulatory frameworks evolve. While continuous trading rests with the exchanges, DTCC stands ready in 2026 to support overnight trading windows. From Q2 2026, DTCC’s equities clearing subsidiary will increase clearing hours, subject to regulatory review and approval.
Marco Kessler, Head of Product and Business Development for Digital Assets, SIX
The strongest driver this year has certainly been the shift from digital assets as an experiment to digital assets as everyday financial tools. When global systematically important banks start accepting Bitcoin and Ether as collateral, supported by regulated custodians, you know the direction of travel is moving towards these assets working inside the nuts and bolts of institutional finance. This momentum is reinforced by demand for stablecoins, new custody services from major banks and asset managers, as well as the broader push toward faster settlement and round-the-clock markets.
The greatest hindrance is that post-trade systems were never built for this world. They struggle with assets that move instantly, markets that never close, and workflows that need automated checks rather than costly reconciliation. Pressure points in post-trade appear not because the ambition is wrong, but because the foundations need to evolve. The industry will only unlock the full value of digital assets in 2026 when custody, settlement, and reporting systems become as modern as the assets they now support.
Technology
Gareth Evans, Chief Product Officer, FINBOURNE
Confronting The Technology Spend Paradox
For a more productive 2026, the priority shouldn’t be spending more on technology but rather spending more strategically. In the last five years, tech budgets have ballooned with very little to show for it. Next year, asset managers must confront an uncomfortable truth: recent McKinsey research shows the majority of technology spending - often 60-80 per cent - goes toward maintaining legacy systems rather than genuine transformation. This ‘complexity tax’ isn’t just expensive; it actively prevents firms from capturing the substantial efficiency gains – potentially 25-40 per cent of the cost base – that AI and modern platforms can deliver.
The path forward isn’t about spending less – it’s about spending differently. Firms need to shift investment away from keeping fragile systems alive and toward building modern, unified data platforms that can actually support AI-driven workflows. That’s not just bold thinking for 2026. It’s the only sustainable path to competitive advantage.
Dean McIntyre, Chief Commercial Officer, SimCorp
We expect that AI-powered tools will advance, enabling faster insights and intuitive, code-free interaction with data. Firms must ensure their data is ‘AI-ready’ to avoid poor outcomes.
What’s particularly interesting is that firms are taking a very practical approach – they’re focusing on areas like helping portfolio managers become more efficient with their existing processes, rather than trying to completely reinvent their investment approach.
For new tools adoption using natural language to ask for what you need rather than building tables or data structures seems the natural next step for user experience.
Total Portfolio Approach (TPA) adoption will continue to be a key theme for the largest asset owners, as institutional investors seek unified risk and performance views across asset classes.
Technology platforms that integrate public and private markets seamlessly will be a key differentiator.
Theo Wasserberg, Head of UK and Ireland, Embat
Why 2026 Will Expose The reason Your AI projects Keep Stalling
The most important shift in 2026 won’t come from AI vendors, regulators, or new technology. It’ll come from chief financial officers finally admitting something that 2025 made painfully clear: people were never the barrier, the architecture was.
The Silent Blocker: Architecture, Not People
Last year, finance teams reached a breaking point. Not because they feared AI, but because they were stuck inside systems that freeze whenever real life doesn’t follow the rules. Two invoices in one payment? Error. A reference number typed backwards? Manual intervention. Teams weren’t “resistant to change”; they were tired of holding together workflows that collapse under real-world complexity. And the moment leaders saw that clearly, adoption patterns changed.
Talent Gravity Becomes the Modernisation Forcing Function
2025 made one thing clear; skilled people are drawn to modern, well-built systems. Graduates and mid-career specialists are increasingly selective about the technology environments they’ll work in. This year, I’ve begun hearing treasurers acknowledge, with notable candour, that recruitment challenges are directly linked to perceptions of their technology infrastructure. As we move into 2026, talent attraction and retention may emerge as one compelling driver for modernisation initiatives.
The Architecture Paradox Emerges
And that leads to the third prediction: the architecture paradox. The louder the AI conversation became in 2025, the more obvious it was that the real blocker was data plumbing built for another era. The companies that move fastest in 2026 won’t be the ones adding tools; they’ll be the ones removing the ones that choke flow. 2025 tested ambition. 2026 rewards teams willing to fix the plumbing.
Rory Doyle, Head of Financial Crime Policy, Fenergo
2025 has been a landmark year for anti-money laundering (AML) progress in Europe, no less in digital assets, with 2026 shaping up to be no different. This year saw a mammoth evolution for regulation in Europe, as the EU’s Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) officially began. In addition, the FCA announced a new body for AML and counter-terrorist financing, and the UK-US potential digital assets passporting schemes took great strides at the discussion stage – possibly the most exciting innovation of all.
As the UK and US differ greatly in their approaches to AML frameworks, the concept of introducing a passporting scheme doesn’t come without its challenges. The substantial crime risks as a result of regulatory arbitrage are not to be ignored. As we head into the new year, the UK needs to continue driving innovation in digital assets, but not at the expense of effective oversight. Only then can it accelerate greater adoption for markets, without creating new opportunities to commit financial crimes.
Fund Services
EJ Liotta, Head of Prime Finance and Equity Derivatives, TS Imagine
2026 will be the year that prime brokers and hedge funds start to take control of corporate actions. Inefficiencies generated by corporate actions processing are the most persistent and structurally dangerous source of recurring losses in modern markets. The problem is particularly acute in prime brokers, and spills over into the hedge funds they service. A prime broker holding US$150 billion faces more than US$13 million in annual corporate actions exposures. In the next 12 months, prime brokers and hedge funds will leverage technology to address the architectural weaknesses that have historically triggered losses linked to corporate actions. This means addressing the point at which stock loans, financing, synthetics, rehypothecation, margin, and multi-client entitlements converge.
Currently, one mis-tagged event, missed election, or late adjustment can cascade instantly into buy-ins, mismatched financing flows, and direct hits to profit and loss. By implementing real-time corporate actions intelligence, automating election and entitlement processing, and cross-product lifecycle integration, the industry can end the unnecessary absorption of tens of millions in silent, structural losses.
David Everson, Head of Fixed Income Trading, EMEA, Liquidnet
The year that will re-engineer the fixed income market for the next decade. As we look ahead to 2026, the fixed income market will continue to grapple with the challenge of electronifying the block side of trading, a theme that surfaced in early 2025 and gained momentum throughout the year.
As I discussed on my panel at the FILS (Fixed Income Leaders) conference this year, this isn’t just about technology, it’s about designing workflows that preserve liquidity and trust at scale. I think achieving this will require a fundamental shift in behaviour from both buy and sell-side participants, as existing protocols like RFQ are simply not fit for purpose in this segment of the market.
At the same time, I think pressure on incumbent trading venues to justify their economics will no doubt intensify, with fee compression remaining a dominant theme, venues will need to prove their value beyond connectivity. Regulatory developments will also reshape the landscape, particularly the rollout of the consolidated tape in the UK and Europe, which promises to improve price discovery but will require significant adaptation from market participants.
And finally, we can’t look forward without mentioning the rise of AI and in particular AI-driven analytics. I believe these will begin to move from concept to reality, enabling smarter liquidity sourcing and predictive execution strategies. Those who harness these tools effectively will gain a genuine competitive edge.
Pervaiz Panjwani, Chief Product Officer, Waystone
In 2026, fund administration and fund governance will become even more central as the investment management industry continues to consolidate, leveraging mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The trend of outsourcing in both fund administration and governance in the private and public markets will accelerate. Managers will prioritise partners that offer platform solutions with consistent reporting, cross-border governance, and capital-markets expertise - particularly as active ETFs proliferate, semi-transparent models evolve, and more global issuers enter Europe through Ireland and Luxembourg.
Fund Governance will remain a critical differentiator as sustainable finance disclosure regulation [SFDR], alternative investment fund managers directive [AIFMD II], and US reporting cycles tighten, while technology-driven scalability becomes essential for handling complex, multi-domicile product ranges. The winners next year will be those who eliminate operational friction by embracing AI and tech integration to create capacity and free up talent, which can be redeployed towards enhancing service consistency and broader client experience to foster growth.
Steve Walsh, Managing Director of Reconciliation, Duco
Preparing for T+1 in Europe
Heading into 2026, European firms will be preparing for T+1, which will be much more complex than the US given the currency and regulatory patchwork. US firms increased headcount by up to 18 per cent to support the move to T+1, and they were working within a landscape of only a few, mostly centralised infrastructures. Europe is much, much more complex with over 30 Central Securities Depositories (CSDs) all with different technologies and rules. While not all the specifics for the transition have been finalised, firms will need the next year to get ready.
We believe they will be heavily focused on adopting a T+0 reconciliation mindset to meet the 80 per cent reduction in post-trade processing time and the challenges that come with it. Ultimately, we see automation as the only realistic way to achieve this, enabling firms to process more data, with greater accuracy, at higher speed and with shorter investigation times.”
AI adoption
With AI, it’s imperative to avoid the ‘slap’. That is ‘slapping’ AI on top of a legacy system or process. A full reconsideration of the operating model is imperative. What tasks can be done by humans? Where can AI plug in? Ensuring governance, explainability and seamless integration comes from this deep strategic work. This work is already in progress with a major focus on explainability. Humans need to stay ‘in the loop’ but ensure their presence doesn’t wipe away the benefits of automation. Legacy technology stacks present roadblocks, as cumbersome, byzantine back ends impact timelines. To make the most of the opportunity, organisations will need to reassess how their operating models are aligned across middle- and back-office functions, ensuring product and process flows support rather than hinder transformation.
And the process can’t be left solely with technologists. Business expertise helps ensure development focuses on higher-value tasks and navigate ongoing regulatory developments and market headwinds, leading to the best result.
Rosemary McCollin, Executive Vice President, Fund Solutions EU and ME, Vistra
2026 will be the year when efficiency gaps in real estate investment operational management become more visible than ever before. Volatility will remain a concern, but the real differentiator will be operational strength. Managers who have invested in integrated systems, clean data, and advanced technology will stand out, because the market will favour those who can prove their decisions, not just justify them after the fact. Limited Partners (LPs) are already shifting towards managers who offer transparent, data-backed insights into performance, valuations and risk.
That pressure will intensify in 2026. Firms still relying on manual reporting, siloed data or outdated valuation models will find fundraising slower and competition tougher. The expectation next year will be consistent, timely, auditable data that shows how valuations are derived, how risk is monitored and how performance compares across regions and asset types. Those who modernise early will be far better positioned as capital becomes more selective.
Data Quality and Standardisation
In 2026, data quality will become a defining operational priority in private markets. Managers are already feeling the pressure, and the consequences of poor data will only become more visible, from slower transactions to tougher valuations and increased scrutiny from LPs. Standardisation will drive this shift. Without shared definitions, structures, and reporting frameworks, firms will keep wasting time reconciling information rather than analysing it. The focus must be on breaking down data silos, adopting common standards, and strengthening governance so teams can finally work from a single source of truth.
This change will also level the field between smaller managers and larger players. With modern tools and better data, firms of any size can turn accuracy and consistency into a genuine advantage.
Those willing to invest now will operate with greater confidence and adopt advanced technologies with far less friction. In 2026, scrutiny, precision and speed will define the winners.
AI and Automation
AI will become part of everyday operations across private markets in 2026. Early adopters have already shown the value through faster diligence, better forecasting, stronger valuations and lower operational costs. More firms will follow as they look for greater efficiency in a difficult market.
The firms that will benefit most are those with clean, well-structured data and strong governance. This foundation is essential. With it, managers can automate with confidence, make faster decisions and deliver deeper insights to investors. Without it, AI becomes slow, costly and unreliable, and the gap between prepared firms and those still catching up will only grow.
In 2026, AI becomes a core capability. Firms that combine strong data with disciplined adoption will move faster, improve accuracy and build investor confidence. Those that delay will struggle to keep pace with a market that expects more efficiency. While many tasks will become automated, the human touch will remain just as important, especially when interpreting results, managing relationships and guiding investors through uncertainty.
Retail investment
Caroline Baker, Country Managing Director (CMD) for North America, Vistra
Gearing Up For The Road Ahead
Retail interest in private markets will continue to rise in 2026 as investors seek diversification and access to strategies once limited to institutions. While growing demand will increase liquidity, it brings real operational challenges. Managers and distributors will need to navigate liquidity constraints, maintain appropriate buffers and handle the added complexity that comes with serving a much broader investor base.
Education will be critical. Private wealth banks, financial advisers and platforms must help retail investors understand structures, risks and time horizons so expectations are set early and clearly. The firms that succeed will be those that invest in strong client support, intuitive investor-facing technology and human customer support teams who can respond when issues arise. As retail access expands, managers will need to balance innovation with responsibility, ensuring investors are engaged, informed and supported throughout the entire lifecycle of their investment.
Custody
Peggy Vena, Head of ETF Services, Citi Investor Services
2026 marks a pivotal year for the exchange-traded fund (ETF) industry, primarily driven by the anticipated launch of ETF Share Classes for all and the escalating adoption of actively managed ETFs. This confluence will significantly accelerate ETF growth, extending the streak of consecutive monthly inflows well into 2027 and compelling market holdouts to embrace the ETF structure.
This unprecedented expansion necessitates a profound digital evolution across the entire ETF ecosystem.
The digitisation and automation of ETF servicing is and will continue to become an indispensable necessity.
API connectivity will be key to enabling workflows that can support increased transaction volume and complexity.
This need for greater automation, efficiency and increasing real-time transmission of information will accelerate the adoption of technology and development of resilient digital infrastructures. 2026 will be recognised as another landmark year for ETFs.
Laurent Marochini, CEO, Standard Chartered Luxembourg
After laying the foundations in 2025, institutions will shift into full-scale action, unlocking a new era for tokenised finance. 2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year as financial institutions begin to execute on the groundwork laid throughout 2025. With regulatory frameworks in place (such as Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, MiCA, in Europe), early moving companies will start to reap the rewards. At the centre of this shift, digital custody emerges as the cornerstone of the institutional crypto ecosystem, delivering the security and compliance needed for large-scale adoption.
Tokenisation is entering a phase of rapid expansion, especially across money market funds, private equity, and bonds, as on-chain settlement becomes increasingly common. The ability to offer real-time collateral, robust stablecoin, efficient distribution channels and network interoperability, will be key differentiators. Mergers and acquisitions will accelerate as others race to catch up. Several banks, including Standard Chartered, are already positioning themselves to lead the next wave of institutional crypto growth.
Dirk Loscher, CEO of Clearstream Europe and Head of Custody and Investor Solutions
Gearing Up For The Road Ahead
If 2025 was for planning, 2026 will be the year of gearing up for execution. The transition to T+1 is no longer a distant concept but an immediate strategic priority. Firms must now evaluate their most critical pain points and take proactive steps to mitigate the impending challenges. For this transition to succeed, we must concurrently focus on building stable, deep liquidity pools for European capital markets. Initiatives such as extending trading hours and aligning market standards — without sacrificing the stability of netting facilities — are crucial to enhancing the attractiveness of our connected marketplace.
This evolution will be supported by the boosted adoption of digital technologies and assets, including distributed ledger technology (DLT), crypto assets, and stablecoins, which promise enhanced efficiency and cross-border flexibility. Furthermore, the FASTER initiative, which aims to simplify Europe’s complex tax landscape, will be a key focus, not only for us. While complete harmonisation may remain elusive, our role will be to manage these local complexities, shielding clients from operational burdens. Ultimately, in a world of constant change, the drive towards greater market harmonisation is more critical than ever. We must adjust to this new reality.
Val Wotton, Managing Director and Global Head of Equities Solutions, DTCC
2026 will be a critical year for Europe’s transition to T+1 settlement. The European Union, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the UK have all set October 11, 2027, as their go-live date. The 2024 move to T+1 in the US provides insights for a successful transition, but Europe’s fragmented market structure creates unique challenges for market participants. Successful T+1 preparation across the region demands automation. Manual interventions and bottlenecks in post-trade processes need to be addressed to enable same-day trade allocation and confirmation.
2026 will also be a crucial year in readiness for T+1. Firms that invest in straight-through processing (STP), modernised architecture, and testing with infrastructure providers will emerge not only as regulatory compliant but will also benefit from the capabilities and efficiencies that automation provides. While preparations should now be well under way, it’s not too late for market participants to ensure readiness for Europe’s move to T+1.
Global markets are also undergoing huge transformations in the front office, with major exchanges actively exploring 24/5 trading. DTCC continues to work closely with exchanges, regulators, and industry partners to ensure a smooth, phased transition to 24/5 trading. These efforts not only address today’s needs but also lay the foundation for a future transition to 24/7 trading as industry infrastructure and regulatory frameworks evolve. While continuous trading rests with the exchanges, DTCC stands ready in 2026 to support overnight trading windows. From Q2 2026, DTCC’s equities clearing subsidiary will increase clearing hours, subject to regulatory review and approval.
Marco Kessler, Head of Product and Business Development for Digital Assets, SIX
The strongest driver this year has certainly been the shift from digital assets as an experiment to digital assets as everyday financial tools. When global systematically important banks start accepting Bitcoin and Ether as collateral, supported by regulated custodians, you know the direction of travel is moving towards these assets working inside the nuts and bolts of institutional finance. This momentum is reinforced by demand for stablecoins, new custody services from major banks and asset managers, as well as the broader push toward faster settlement and round-the-clock markets.
The greatest hindrance is that post-trade systems were never built for this world. They struggle with assets that move instantly, markets that never close, and workflows that need automated checks rather than costly reconciliation. Pressure points in post-trade appear not because the ambition is wrong, but because the foundations need to evolve. The industry will only unlock the full value of digital assets in 2026 when custody, settlement, and reporting systems become as modern as the assets they now support.
Technology
Gareth Evans, Chief Product Officer, FINBOURNE
Confronting The Technology Spend Paradox
For a more productive 2026, the priority shouldn’t be spending more on technology but rather spending more strategically. In the last five years, tech budgets have ballooned with very little to show for it. Next year, asset managers must confront an uncomfortable truth: recent McKinsey research shows the majority of technology spending - often 60-80 per cent - goes toward maintaining legacy systems rather than genuine transformation. This ‘complexity tax’ isn’t just expensive; it actively prevents firms from capturing the substantial efficiency gains – potentially 25-40 per cent of the cost base – that AI and modern platforms can deliver.
The path forward isn’t about spending less – it’s about spending differently. Firms need to shift investment away from keeping fragile systems alive and toward building modern, unified data platforms that can actually support AI-driven workflows. That’s not just bold thinking for 2026. It’s the only sustainable path to competitive advantage.
Dean McIntyre, Chief Commercial Officer, SimCorp
We expect that AI-powered tools will advance, enabling faster insights and intuitive, code-free interaction with data. Firms must ensure their data is ‘AI-ready’ to avoid poor outcomes.
What’s particularly interesting is that firms are taking a very practical approach – they’re focusing on areas like helping portfolio managers become more efficient with their existing processes, rather than trying to completely reinvent their investment approach.
For new tools adoption using natural language to ask for what you need rather than building tables or data structures seems the natural next step for user experience.
Total Portfolio Approach (TPA) adoption will continue to be a key theme for the largest asset owners, as institutional investors seek unified risk and performance views across asset classes.
Technology platforms that integrate public and private markets seamlessly will be a key differentiator.
Theo Wasserberg, Head of UK and Ireland, Embat
Why 2026 Will Expose The reason Your AI projects Keep Stalling
The most important shift in 2026 won’t come from AI vendors, regulators, or new technology. It’ll come from chief financial officers finally admitting something that 2025 made painfully clear: people were never the barrier, the architecture was.
The Silent Blocker: Architecture, Not People
Last year, finance teams reached a breaking point. Not because they feared AI, but because they were stuck inside systems that freeze whenever real life doesn’t follow the rules. Two invoices in one payment? Error. A reference number typed backwards? Manual intervention. Teams weren’t “resistant to change”; they were tired of holding together workflows that collapse under real-world complexity. And the moment leaders saw that clearly, adoption patterns changed.
Talent Gravity Becomes the Modernisation Forcing Function
2025 made one thing clear; skilled people are drawn to modern, well-built systems. Graduates and mid-career specialists are increasingly selective about the technology environments they’ll work in. This year, I’ve begun hearing treasurers acknowledge, with notable candour, that recruitment challenges are directly linked to perceptions of their technology infrastructure. As we move into 2026, talent attraction and retention may emerge as one compelling driver for modernisation initiatives.
The Architecture Paradox Emerges
And that leads to the third prediction: the architecture paradox. The louder the AI conversation became in 2025, the more obvious it was that the real blocker was data plumbing built for another era. The companies that move fastest in 2026 won’t be the ones adding tools; they’ll be the ones removing the ones that choke flow. 2025 tested ambition. 2026 rewards teams willing to fix the plumbing.
Rory Doyle, Head of Financial Crime Policy, Fenergo
2025 has been a landmark year for anti-money laundering (AML) progress in Europe, no less in digital assets, with 2026 shaping up to be no different. This year saw a mammoth evolution for regulation in Europe, as the EU’s Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) officially began. In addition, the FCA announced a new body for AML and counter-terrorist financing, and the UK-US potential digital assets passporting schemes took great strides at the discussion stage – possibly the most exciting innovation of all.
As the UK and US differ greatly in their approaches to AML frameworks, the concept of introducing a passporting scheme doesn’t come without its challenges. The substantial crime risks as a result of regulatory arbitrage are not to be ignored. As we head into the new year, the UK needs to continue driving innovation in digital assets, but not at the expense of effective oversight. Only then can it accelerate greater adoption for markets, without creating new opportunities to commit financial crimes.
Fund Services
EJ Liotta, Head of Prime Finance and Equity Derivatives, TS Imagine
2026 will be the year that prime brokers and hedge funds start to take control of corporate actions. Inefficiencies generated by corporate actions processing are the most persistent and structurally dangerous source of recurring losses in modern markets. The problem is particularly acute in prime brokers, and spills over into the hedge funds they service. A prime broker holding US$150 billion faces more than US$13 million in annual corporate actions exposures. In the next 12 months, prime brokers and hedge funds will leverage technology to address the architectural weaknesses that have historically triggered losses linked to corporate actions. This means addressing the point at which stock loans, financing, synthetics, rehypothecation, margin, and multi-client entitlements converge.
Currently, one mis-tagged event, missed election, or late adjustment can cascade instantly into buy-ins, mismatched financing flows, and direct hits to profit and loss. By implementing real-time corporate actions intelligence, automating election and entitlement processing, and cross-product lifecycle integration, the industry can end the unnecessary absorption of tens of millions in silent, structural losses.
David Everson, Head of Fixed Income Trading, EMEA, Liquidnet
The year that will re-engineer the fixed income market for the next decade. As we look ahead to 2026, the fixed income market will continue to grapple with the challenge of electronifying the block side of trading, a theme that surfaced in early 2025 and gained momentum throughout the year.
As I discussed on my panel at the FILS (Fixed Income Leaders) conference this year, this isn’t just about technology, it’s about designing workflows that preserve liquidity and trust at scale. I think achieving this will require a fundamental shift in behaviour from both buy and sell-side participants, as existing protocols like RFQ are simply not fit for purpose in this segment of the market.
At the same time, I think pressure on incumbent trading venues to justify their economics will no doubt intensify, with fee compression remaining a dominant theme, venues will need to prove their value beyond connectivity. Regulatory developments will also reshape the landscape, particularly the rollout of the consolidated tape in the UK and Europe, which promises to improve price discovery but will require significant adaptation from market participants.
And finally, we can’t look forward without mentioning the rise of AI and in particular AI-driven analytics. I believe these will begin to move from concept to reality, enabling smarter liquidity sourcing and predictive execution strategies. Those who harness these tools effectively will gain a genuine competitive edge.
Pervaiz Panjwani, Chief Product Officer, Waystone
In 2026, fund administration and fund governance will become even more central as the investment management industry continues to consolidate, leveraging mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The trend of outsourcing in both fund administration and governance in the private and public markets will accelerate. Managers will prioritise partners that offer platform solutions with consistent reporting, cross-border governance, and capital-markets expertise - particularly as active ETFs proliferate, semi-transparent models evolve, and more global issuers enter Europe through Ireland and Luxembourg.
Fund Governance will remain a critical differentiator as sustainable finance disclosure regulation [SFDR], alternative investment fund managers directive [AIFMD II], and US reporting cycles tighten, while technology-driven scalability becomes essential for handling complex, multi-domicile product ranges. The winners next year will be those who eliminate operational friction by embracing AI and tech integration to create capacity and free up talent, which can be redeployed towards enhancing service consistency and broader client experience to foster growth.
Steve Walsh, Managing Director of Reconciliation, Duco
Preparing for T+1 in Europe
Heading into 2026, European firms will be preparing for T+1, which will be much more complex than the US given the currency and regulatory patchwork. US firms increased headcount by up to 18 per cent to support the move to T+1, and they were working within a landscape of only a few, mostly centralised infrastructures. Europe is much, much more complex with over 30 Central Securities Depositories (CSDs) all with different technologies and rules. While not all the specifics for the transition have been finalised, firms will need the next year to get ready.
We believe they will be heavily focused on adopting a T+0 reconciliation mindset to meet the 80 per cent reduction in post-trade processing time and the challenges that come with it. Ultimately, we see automation as the only realistic way to achieve this, enabling firms to process more data, with greater accuracy, at higher speed and with shorter investigation times.”
AI adoption
With AI, it’s imperative to avoid the ‘slap’. That is ‘slapping’ AI on top of a legacy system or process. A full reconsideration of the operating model is imperative. What tasks can be done by humans? Where can AI plug in? Ensuring governance, explainability and seamless integration comes from this deep strategic work. This work is already in progress with a major focus on explainability. Humans need to stay ‘in the loop’ but ensure their presence doesn’t wipe away the benefits of automation. Legacy technology stacks present roadblocks, as cumbersome, byzantine back ends impact timelines. To make the most of the opportunity, organisations will need to reassess how their operating models are aligned across middle- and back-office functions, ensuring product and process flows support rather than hinder transformation.
And the process can’t be left solely with technologists. Business expertise helps ensure development focuses on higher-value tasks and navigate ongoing regulatory developments and market headwinds, leading to the best result.
Rosemary McCollin, Executive Vice President, Fund Solutions EU and ME, Vistra
2026 will be the year when efficiency gaps in real estate investment operational management become more visible than ever before. Volatility will remain a concern, but the real differentiator will be operational strength. Managers who have invested in integrated systems, clean data, and advanced technology will stand out, because the market will favour those who can prove their decisions, not just justify them after the fact. Limited Partners (LPs) are already shifting towards managers who offer transparent, data-backed insights into performance, valuations and risk.
That pressure will intensify in 2026. Firms still relying on manual reporting, siloed data or outdated valuation models will find fundraising slower and competition tougher. The expectation next year will be consistent, timely, auditable data that shows how valuations are derived, how risk is monitored and how performance compares across regions and asset types. Those who modernise early will be far better positioned as capital becomes more selective.
Data Quality and Standardisation
In 2026, data quality will become a defining operational priority in private markets. Managers are already feeling the pressure, and the consequences of poor data will only become more visible, from slower transactions to tougher valuations and increased scrutiny from LPs. Standardisation will drive this shift. Without shared definitions, structures, and reporting frameworks, firms will keep wasting time reconciling information rather than analysing it. The focus must be on breaking down data silos, adopting common standards, and strengthening governance so teams can finally work from a single source of truth.
This change will also level the field between smaller managers and larger players. With modern tools and better data, firms of any size can turn accuracy and consistency into a genuine advantage.
Those willing to invest now will operate with greater confidence and adopt advanced technologies with far less friction. In 2026, scrutiny, precision and speed will define the winners.
AI and Automation
AI will become part of everyday operations across private markets in 2026. Early adopters have already shown the value through faster diligence, better forecasting, stronger valuations and lower operational costs. More firms will follow as they look for greater efficiency in a difficult market.
The firms that will benefit most are those with clean, well-structured data and strong governance. This foundation is essential. With it, managers can automate with confidence, make faster decisions and deliver deeper insights to investors. Without it, AI becomes slow, costly and unreliable, and the gap between prepared firms and those still catching up will only grow.
In 2026, AI becomes a core capability. Firms that combine strong data with disciplined adoption will move faster, improve accuracy and build investor confidence. Those that delay will struggle to keep pace with a market that expects more efficiency. While many tasks will become automated, the human touch will remain just as important, especially when interpreting results, managing relationships and guiding investors through uncertainty.
Retail investment
Caroline Baker, Country Managing Director (CMD) for North America, Vistra
Gearing Up For The Road Ahead
Retail interest in private markets will continue to rise in 2026 as investors seek diversification and access to strategies once limited to institutions. While growing demand will increase liquidity, it brings real operational challenges. Managers and distributors will need to navigate liquidity constraints, maintain appropriate buffers and handle the added complexity that comes with serving a much broader investor base.
Education will be critical. Private wealth banks, financial advisers and platforms must help retail investors understand structures, risks and time horizons so expectations are set early and clearly. The firms that succeed will be those that invest in strong client support, intuitive investor-facing technology and human customer support teams who can respond when issues arise. As retail access expands, managers will need to balance innovation with responsibility, ensuring investors are engaged, informed and supported throughout the entire lifecycle of their investment.
Custody
Peggy Vena, Head of ETF Services, Citi Investor Services
2026 marks a pivotal year for the exchange-traded fund (ETF) industry, primarily driven by the anticipated launch of ETF Share Classes for all and the escalating adoption of actively managed ETFs. This confluence will significantly accelerate ETF growth, extending the streak of consecutive monthly inflows well into 2027 and compelling market holdouts to embrace the ETF structure.
This unprecedented expansion necessitates a profound digital evolution across the entire ETF ecosystem.
The digitisation and automation of ETF servicing is and will continue to become an indispensable necessity.
API connectivity will be key to enabling workflows that can support increased transaction volume and complexity.
This need for greater automation, efficiency and increasing real-time transmission of information will accelerate the adoption of technology and development of resilient digital infrastructures. 2026 will be recognised as another landmark year for ETFs.
Laurent Marochini, CEO, Standard Chartered Luxembourg
After laying the foundations in 2025, institutions will shift into full-scale action, unlocking a new era for tokenised finance. 2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year as financial institutions begin to execute on the groundwork laid throughout 2025. With regulatory frameworks in place (such as Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, MiCA, in Europe), early moving companies will start to reap the rewards. At the centre of this shift, digital custody emerges as the cornerstone of the institutional crypto ecosystem, delivering the security and compliance needed for large-scale adoption.
Tokenisation is entering a phase of rapid expansion, especially across money market funds, private equity, and bonds, as on-chain settlement becomes increasingly common. The ability to offer real-time collateral, robust stablecoin, efficient distribution channels and network interoperability, will be key differentiators. Mergers and acquisitions will accelerate as others race to catch up. Several banks, including Standard Chartered, are already positioning themselves to lead the next wave of institutional crypto growth.
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