Celent’s 2025 Dimensions: IT Pressures & Priorities survey reveals the European wealth management sector balancing digital innovation with the enduring fundamentals of trust, compliance, and client value. Based on insights from senior executives across the region, the findings show firms strengthening resilience while accelerating modernization.
In 2025, digital resilience and client trust anchor IT strategy. Compliance and data privacy remain non-negotiable - cited by 65% of executives as top priorities, as firms reinforce security and governance while striving for greater speed, agility, and scalability. This shift underscores a growing recognition that transparency and trust are the foundation of long-term digital growth.
IT spending remains strong, with budgets forecast to rise 5.2% in 2025 and 5.6% in 2026, marking the third consecutive year of solid growth. Investment continues to concentrate in automation, analytics, and front-office innovation, reflecting a phase of modernization and optimization rather than broad expansion. Firms are emphasizing platforms that offer configurability and integration, enabling transformation without the disruption of full system replacements.
Strategic priorities are also evolving. The democratization and personalization of wealth management lead the 2025–26 agenda, cited by 40% of firms as a top trend. Product innovation is focused on direct indexing (39%), ESG solutions (33%), and UMA/advisory platform upgrades (31%), as firms work to deliver tailored, values-aligned portfolios at scale.
Artificial intelligence and automation are now core to competitive differentiation. Key technology priorities include robotic process automation (39%), digital identity (25%), and public cloud migration (24%). AI adoption is advancing rapidly in client-facing areas: onboarding (37%), financial planning (35%), and advisor portals (30%), while 74% of firms are piloting or deploying generative AI. As wealth managers move from experimentation to enterprise-scale execution, technology strategy is becoming a decisive driver of trust, transparency, and intelligent growth.
