Celent’s Snap Poll is a short, targeted research initiative designed to capture timely executive perspectives on emerging trends, technologies, and strategic priorities in financial services. The intention behind these polls is to provide a quick pulse of the market by gathering real-time input from Celent’s network of financial institutions and solution providers. Each poll focuses on a specific, current topic and summarizes the aggregated and anonymized findings in a concise report - no individual responses or firm names are shared.
This particular Snap Poll focuses on Generative AI and Agentic AI in Wealth Management. Its purpose is to understand how wealth management leaders are approaching these rapidly evolving technologies: their priorities, challenges, and use cases. The goal is to capture an accurate snapshot of how the industry is adapting to GenAI and Agentic AI, helping Celent clients benchmark their own progress and identify emerging opportunities.
The survey is intentionally brief, taking only a few minutes to complete, to encourage participation while providing high-value insights that reflect the current state and direction of innovation in wealth management.
Key Findings
- Many respondents identify Generative AI (GenAI) as a core strategic priority, reflecting a strong and deliberate commitment by wealth management firms to embed AI across business operations.
- On the Agentic AI front, most firms are actively developing or piloting solutions, signaling high engagement levels and early confidence in its potential. A smaller proportion are exploring use cases, while a few remain in awareness stages.
- Advisor enablement and internal knowledge management emerge as the top focus areas for GenAI deployment. Firms are using AI to automate administrative workflows and improve collaboration, freeing advisors to spend more time on relationship-building and client strategy.
- Implementation maturity is increasing, with more than half of the surveyed firms confirming active deployment of GenAI initiatives. While some are scaling these solutions enterprise-wide, others are rolling them out gradually through limited pilots.
- Respondents believe GenAI and Agentic AI will have the greatest impact on cost reduction and operational efficiency over the next 12–24 months, underlining the industry’s focus on profitability and streamlined operations.
- Innovation and strategic differentiation are the most cited success measures for GenAI adoption. Firms are also tracking cost savings and client satisfaction to quantify impact, with several emphasizing that traditional metrics such as time saved or AUM growth are secondary at this stage.
- Data privacy and security concerns represent the most significant barrier to adoption. This is followed by regulatory uncertainty, model reliability, and a shortage of skilled AI talent—issues that continue to slow enterprise-wide adoption.
- All firms report having formal governance and risk controls for GenAI use. The most common safeguards include human-in-the-loop review, vendor risk assessments, internal AI usage policies, and centralized ethics committees, underscoring a maturing approach to responsible AI governance.
- Most respondents indicate their advisor force is moderately prepared for GenAI adoption, with training and enablement initiatives underway. A smaller group has already completed structured programs and is well-positioned to scale usage across teams.
