Compared with the picture painted a year ago, the use of AI by organisations such as asset managers and insurance groups has moved forward rapidly.

A survey by fintech group SimCorp says that more than three-quarters (70 per cent) of buy-side firms are successfully using AI to support their front office – a sharp acceleration in adoption.

A year ago, when SimCorp posed the same question to buy-side firms about uses of the technology, it showed that only about 10 per cent of respondents were actively exploring AI tools. At the time, 75 per cent recognised AI’s potential, but they still needed guidance on how to integrate it.

These findings, published in the 2026 InvestOps Report, draw on responses from 200 executives at asset managers, pension funds and insurance companies worldwide. The respondents were surveyed by WBR Insights to identify their technology priorities and challenges heading into 2026.

“AI adoption has dramatically shifted from pilots to business-critical applications in the front office,” Peter Sanderson, CEO, SimCorp, said. 

Such a report shows how AI continues to dominate the technology narrative in financial services and further afield. Debate is continuing on how AI can elevate areas such as staff productivity, help with regulatory compliance tasks, data management, and client reporting. 

Vendors
The new report also finds that consolidating technology vendors and platforms (58 per cent) and modernising technology architecture and data infrastructure (54 per cent) are the top technology initiatives for buy-side firms – both are essential for scaling AI, automating investment workflows and simplifying tech stacks.

Priorities
For the first time in three years, achieving competitive differentiation through innovation (55 per cent) has surpassed operational efficiency (33 per cent) and controlling operating costs (44 per cent) as the leading driver of technology and operations investments for 2026.

With AI adoption maturing across investment managers, vendor stability (57 per cent) ranks as the most important criterion when evaluating AI solutions for their investment management – ahead of features.

(Editor's note: Almost daily, financial firms, including those in the wealth management space, announce that they are implementing AI in different parts of their business, or all of it. To give an example from last week, Switzerland-based Linvo, a multi-family office and wealth management house said it has intregrated artificial intelligence tech across its asset management operations. What struck this publication as notable is that the group, headquartered in Zurich, said it intends to flip the 80/20 ratio in which staff devote 80 per cent of their time on administration and compliance, and only 20 per cent on talking to clients. It wants to reverse that ratio – with considerable benefits for its costs and revenues. It argues that forms of productivity could surge up to 10 times. Even if one is a bit sceptical of certain claims, the cost/income ratio improvement could be considerable. The next few years will be interesting to see what the impact on firms' bottom lines are.)