The editor casts his eye back at the tumultuous first quarter of this year and gives a glimpse of our coverage for the next few months.

Geopolitics, AI, private market pressures, and worries about wealth taxes combined to make the first quarter of 2026 an intense one for the editorial team. 

The team at WealthBriefing, Family Wealth Report have examined topics such as North American purchases of European wealth managers – for example the Nuveen/Schroders deal and Creative Planning/MASECO transactions (see the latter example here). Last year, US-headquartered Corient caused a splash with its purchase of Stonehage Fleming and Stanhope Capital. And, as I write, Corient is still snapping up wealth firms. Industry consolidation is a prominent theme – NatWest’s purchase of Evelyn Partners in the UK could be followed by other deals. Our US correspondent, Charles Paikert, has also analysed what’s happening at AITi Global, an international multi-family office that recently saw its CEO Michael Tiedemann depart. 

The private markets trend remains hot; worries about private credit funds bubbled up, and several firms have had to regulate redemptions. Time will tell whether these are localised issues or part of a more systemic pattern. (See my two-part feature here and here.)

Volatility inevitably raises the situation in the Middle East and the Gulf. We have tracked wealth managers' comments about this in several articles; my colleague Amanda Cheesley has spoken to scores of wealth managers on this topic, pondering the implications for energy and food security, and how investors can seek opportunities and contain risks. (See examples here and here.)

The risks confronted by HNW and ultra-HNW individuals came up when I published features looking at “family offices in motion” – here is an example; I have also spoken to academics, recruiters and others on whether geopolitics is a topic that wealth managers should study in their training and career development. I wrote that feature before major military action kicked off in Iran. We like to keep ahead of the curve.

Another area has been tax. A reason for some of the “wealth in motion” theme is that governments in some nations, such as France and the UK, are squeezing HNW individuals, encouraging an exodus. However, what I’ve noticed from conversations is that there is far more to such considerations than tax. Charles Paikert has also looked at a proposed wealth tax in California and what that might mean for the state, and other US states.

We have had a few articles, including guest commentaries, about AI. Along with contributing editor Paul Cuthbert-Brown in Singapore (he joined us this year), we looked at the questions AI raises for the industry. We continue to drill deep into what the use cases are in AI. Charles Paikert was in New Orleans a few weeks ago for the annual T3 technology/wealth conference exploring developments in A1.

Other topics that have arisen include the wider use of arbitration for offshore trust disputes; continued busy IPOs in Hong Kong and why such liquidity events matter; the use of art as collateral on loans; behavioural finance and how AI affects it; sports finance, and the use of US municipal bonds in portfolios.

Along with this busy agenda, I’ve been on the road in Geneva, Luxembourg and Zurich to speak with banks such as Deutsche Bank to find out about serving Latin American clients, or the risks of EU regulations on Luxembourg’s funds sector, and what the Swiss banking sector thinks of a major Switzerland/UK accord on financial regulations. I sat down with the Swiss Bankers Association to listen to its take on such matters and the proposed Swiss capital regulations that have prompted sharp pushback from UBS. Amanda Cheesley has been to Paris as part of her interview schedule, talking to BNP Paribas and Natixis. We know that there’s no substitute for on-the-ground engagement.

In another development, we have started to run video interviews via the Basis Point channel, adding another dimension to our coverage.

By the time you read this, I’ll be in Singapore this week to meet a range of industry figures and see how this Asian city-state is faring in the current environment. 

Our agenda remains very busy. Features in the pipeline include a look at possible changes to UK rules on non-compete clauses – a topic attracting lots of comments from executive search and legal professionals. We also want to look at how the whole area of “protecting the client” shakes out for this industry in the present challenging environment. (For a view of our upcoming coverage, here is our 2026 forward features calendar.)

Whatever happens, the editorial team is determined to provide the news and insights that cut through the noise to provide actionable ideas. As ever, if you have comments, please email me at tom.burroughes@wealthbriefing.com and Amanda Cheesley at amanda.cheesley@clearviewpublishing.com.