Q2 2026 Trend Report
AI Use, Spend, and ROI in Wealth Management

Wealth management firms continue to pour money into their AI projects. As budgets increase and take priority in firms’ initiatives, new trends are emerging in the industry landscape. Not all firms or firm types are adopting the technology at the same pace, nor do they sit on the same level of data foundation to make AI tools successful.  

 In addition, extensive conversations F2 has had in the industry reveal many firms' AI goals are outpacing change management support. Every AI project should have an accompanying change management strategy, but the people component of every AI project can feel ominous as advisors, operations, and technology teams feel threatened by the technology and losing the science of financial management. Leadership has the ability to transform the organization by addressing the energy surrounding AI and the people component; determining how roles should change, grow, or be eliminated.

In sum, F2’s current comprehensive research among its national cohort of wealth management firms worth $31T in AUM found spending on AI has increased exponentially in three years; firms aren’t clear on the true cost of AI solutions or how to handle change; and they aren’t measuring ROI.  

“We’re seeing a very loose correlation in 2026 between firms’ spend on both AI technology and its tokens and a meaningful measurable value in a classic sense to the business,” explained Doug Fritz, co-founder and executive chairman of F2 Strategy. “For many, private equity-backed, modern ​business models are driving the idea that the future existence of the firm is the ROI of AI initiatives, but we’re showing firms how to connect AI spend to ROI and impact on the business, and it’s important for the industry to understand how to make an authentic business case.”  

The full report benchmarks AI growth and evolution within wealth management firms.

Trend 1

Firms’ Commitment to AI Budgets Grow Substantially 

Insights and Actionable Intel:

  • The sharp increase in budget specificity demonstrates firms’ movement from AI experimentation to deployment. We don’t expect a slowdown in 2027.
  • Wealth management firms’ focus is on efficiency, not revenue. Firms are directing their efforts to operational efficiency, advisor productivity, and a headcount-neutral scale.
  • Take Action: A gap exists between “AI leaders” who are assembling an agentic stack (Copilot + domain AI + custom agents) and “AI middles and laggards,” giving the leaders a 12–24-month advantage on their competition. Firms that want to catch up must enhance their data infrastructure first.
Trend 2

The Cost of AI Resources vs Human Resources is Becoming More Apparent

Insights and Actionable Intel:

  • In many instances, firms have invested in AI solutions without first thinking of the problem they need to solve or the true total cost of the investment.
  • A driving force around AI investment is demand from PE ownership, board members, or company stockholders to stay ahead of the rapid AI advancement.
  • It’s been generally accepted that AI can do everything cheaper and faster than humans. Now, the cost of AI is suddenly becoming clearer as stories emerge from companies that have spent more on AI tokens in a day than an employee’s salary for a year.
  • Take Action: Tokenomics will play a critical role in the 2027 budgeting process. To measure success, firms need to measure inputs like the cost of AI use. First, understand its cost as well as the cost of people, process time, time to market, and time to revenue. Then, evaluate how agentic AI capabilities enable more efficiency instead of launching blanket projects like plugging in a notetaker or giving everyone a ChatGPT license to say you use AI.
Trend 3

Wealth Management Firms Struggle to Measure AI Projects

Insights and Actionable Intel:

  • Most wealth management firms surveyed haven’t established a formal method of measuring their AI; and none of the bank/trust respondents did.
  • On top of that, 64% of wealth management firms (83% of bank trust) say they don’t have a unified data layer to make their AI projects work.
  • Firms in "disparate systems" are effectively constrained to generic LLM use cases. Personalized analytics and workflow automation require the data layer first.
  • Within the few firms that do measure their AI, over two-thirds (68%) say they have gained 25% more efficiency in targeted workflows.
  • Take Action: “What gets measured gets done,” and therefore firms that develop both metrics to measure success and a data layer that fuels AI tools will lead the industry over the next 24 months.
Survey Information

The data in this report is generated from a survey conducted by F2 Strategy in May 2026. The May survey includes responses from 40 leading RIAs, Wealth Management firms, and Broker/Dealers representing $8.6 trillion in assets out of our national cohort of 116 firms representing $31 trillion.

ABOUT F2 Strategy

F2 Strategy is a leading consulting and research firm modernizing the wealth and asset management industry. Operating within Wealth, Bank & Trust, and Asset Servicing, F2 delivers executive-level technology and marketing guidance, proprietary research, and implementation support to the largest and fastest growing financial institutions. Built on firsthand insight and a people-first mindset, F2 empowers clients to build smarter systems, streamline operations, and drive sustainable growth.

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