Top Wealthtech Trends in Europe for 2026

2026-03-12 - 05:53

In 2026, artificial intelligence (AI) and wealth aggregation will continue to gain traction in the wealth management sector as firms respond to the growing demand for comprehensive, tailored advice. Simultaneously, cryptocurrencies and digital assets will continue to gain legitimacy, requiring firms to develop their own offerings. Asset tokenization, meanwhile, will enhance the accessibility of previously illiquid assets, including real estate and commodities. Finally, direct indexing will emerge as a highly profitable tool driven by the rising demand for flexibility. These are among the key wealthtech trends in Europe for 2026 highlighted by industry stakeholders. These experts, which represent banks, wealthtech companies, and consulting firms such as Morningstar, Allianz, and Upvest, shared their predictions in a new report produced by German wealthtech software provider Fincite. Overall, these insights underscore an industry undergoing a profound digital transformation. This transformation is calling for infrastructure modernization efforts, and new products that align with evolving customer preferences and which unlock new revenue streams. Top Wealthtech Trends in Europe 2026 Asset tokenization In 2026, the industrialization of money, bond, and fund tokenization will witness significant productive scaling, and through 2030, real world assets (RWAs) tokenization is expected to evolve from a niche innovation into a fundamental capital markets infrastructure. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and digital exchange ADDX forecast that asset tokenization will expand into a US$16.1 trillion business opportunity by 2030, while global management consultancy Roland Berger estimates that the market could mushroom to at least US$10 trillion in the same timeframe. Tokenization refers to the transfer of ownership rights in assets, including bonds, funds, and real-estate, into programmable digital assets on distributed ledger technology (DLT). For banks, tokenization will create a new settlement and collateral layer with potential for T+0 settlement, fractional ownership, and automated compliance. For high-net-worth private clients and the upper affluent segment, the primary value lies in bankable RWAs that were previously illiquid or inaccessible. Direct indexing In 2026, personalized indexing will become a highly profitable premium tool if positioned correctly. The technology is mature, and the market is experiencing growth, with direct indexing assets in the US closing year-end 2024 at US$864.3 billion, according to Cerulli Associates. Direct indexing is an investment strategy where instead of purchasing a fund that tracks an index, investors buy the individual stocks that make up that index directly. This granular ownership gives investors direct control over each individual stock position, enabling strategies like tax-loss harvesting. Furthermore, in contrast to standard indices, client-specific criteria can be translated into automated investment rules, creating a customized portfolio of directly held securities that aligns precisely with an investor’s goals and values. While direct indexing has technically reached the mainstream, driven by sophisticated platforms, falling minimum investment amounts, and clear use cases, significant adoption runway remains as only a small segment of financial advisors has adopted the solution. As of 2024, 18% of advisors report using direct indexing strategies, according to Cerulli Associates, highlighting substantial growth opportunity. Real estate Following a period of significant price corrections, rising interest rates and global uncertainty, real estate is regaining prominence, reemerging as a more contemporary, highly digitized, and data-driven asset class. Demand remains robust, as private investors in Europe now allocate approximately 8 to 10% of their portfolios to real estate, a level approaching institutional strategies. Furthermore, the momentum is being accelerated by the revised European Long-Term Investment Funds (ELTIF 2.0), which entered into force in early 2024. ELTIF 2.0 is designed to make it easier for both institutional and retail investors to invest in long-term assets such as infrastructure, private equity, and real estate across the European Union (EU). For real estate, it allows funds to more easily pool capital from investors to finance property projects while offering more flexible diversification and liquidity rules than the original ELTIF regime. Tokenization is also poised to further transform the real estate by providing additional flexibility in the medium term, lowering entry barriers, removing friction, and enabling near-instant transfer of ownership. Digital wealth backend The wealth backend, which encompasses the entire infrastructure for the execution, settlement, and custody of end-customer portfolios and associated securities for banks and asset managers, is undergoing a profound digital transformation. The digital wealth backend utilizes cloud technology for greater flexibility and scalability. Almost all systems offer real-time and event-based data availability, and the best ones are developed API-first, enabling faster time-to-market for transformation projects and ongoing product innovation. This shift is being driven by ever-increasing regulatory requirements and reforms demanding a significantly more flexible backend infrastructure. Furthermore, artificial intelligence (AI) and big data demand cost-effective processing and new backend functionalities which legacy systems can’t support. Wealth aggregation Wealth aggregation represents a significant development in wealth management. By integrating and aggregating financial data across various sources, banks and wealth managers can offer their customers comprehensive, personalized financial advice. In 2026, the market for wealth aggregation will continue to grow due to the increasing spread of open finance and regulatory developments. In particular, the Financial Data Access (FiDA) regulation in the EU aims to improve access to data and boost competition in financial services. The regulation, which is still in the legislative process, will force financial data holders to share customer data with licensed third parties under standardized technical schemes. Technological advances will further fuel the growth of the sector. In particular, more and more providers are relying on cloud-based systems, making it easier to deploy wealth aggregation. Furthermore, increased integration of AI and data analytics is allowing providers to create personalized recommendations for customers and automate financial advice. Wealth aggregation refers to the process by which all relevant financial data of a customer is digitally consolidated. It leverages modern technologies and open banking to offer a 360-degree overview of a customer’s entire wealth, allowing wealth managers to develop personalized investment strategies and offer comprehensive, data-based advice. AI in wealth management In wealth management, experts predict that AI will not replace managers but rather augment their capabilities. The “AI-powered advisor” will understand clients’ emotional nuances and complex life situations, while AI will provide precise, unbiased, data-driven decisions and compliances. Leveraging machine learning (ML) and generative AI (genAI), firms will be able to deliver more individualized, faster, and more consistent advisory services. These will be embedded in solid governance and robust data processes. Organizations have widely recognized the necessity of adopting AI. A 2025 study conducted by global wealth management platform FNZ polled more than 500 financial institutions and found that 72% of financial executives consider AI to be critical to the future of their business. 63% agree that AI will revolutionize the wealth and asset management sector. Crypto assets Crypto assets are increasingly becoming an established component of financial markets. For banks and asset managers, it will be essential in 2026 to closely monitor this asset class and build their own offerings. This development comes as regulatory frameworks for digital assets in many major jurisdictions have been clearly defined, providing institutional players with a reliable path to participation. Simultaneously, the asset class has grown significantly, and client demand is evident. Crypto assets are digital representations of values or rights that are issued and managed as tokens on a blockchain. This asset class can be divided into three main categories, namely tokenized assets, tokenized money, and cryptocurrencies. Tokenized assets, which include treasuries, private credit, equities, and collateral markets, has scaled from US$5.5 billion at the end of 2024 to about US$20 billion a year later, according to tokenization platform Securitize. Tokenized money, primarily comprises tokenized deposits, stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), claims a market capitalization of US$305 billion for stablecoins alone, according to Coindesk. Finally, cryptocurrencies, which include assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum, is now worth approximately US$2.3 trillion. Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on images by Sodiq99art and rawintanpin via Freepik