Rising digital expectations, intensifying regulation and demographic shifts are leading executives in wealth management and capital markets to make bold moves. CGI Voice of Our Clients research highlights their top trends and priorities for 2025.

Interviews with 95 business and technology executives reveal key insights related to:

  • Demographic shifts. Leading wealth organizations are rethinking their value proposition to serve digital-native, socially conscious investors, without alienating older, higher-net-worth clients.
  • Pressure to modernize. While digital transformation is happening across the enterprise, AI is still in pilot mode for many firms
  • Compliance as competitive advantage. From the European Union’s Digital Operational Resilience Act to sustainability disclosures, executives are recalibrating operations to stay ahead—not just stay compliant.

In this video, we dive deeper into pressing issues for executives and learn how modernization is enabling them to embrace new opportunities.

At CGI, we help asset/wealth management and capital markets executives digitally transform to achieve strategic business outcomes—from driving sustainable growth, to managing risks and compliance, to enhancing efficiency and the customer experience.

Video transcript

Rising digital expectations accelerate digital transformation

Rising digital expectations, intensifying regulation and demographic shifts are leading executives in asset and wealth management and capital markets to make bold moves. More than 80% of executives cite technology and digital acceleration driven by fast changing digital expectations as their most impactful macro trend.

Executives aren't simply navigating a tougher landscape; they're redefining what it means to stay relevant, accelerating cloud adoption, launching Gen Z-oriented digital banks, and responding to ESG scrutiny with data-backed strategies.

Outdated systems are really creating a barrier for firms to benefit from GenAI, cloud and scalable environments. It becomes a stalemate what to do first.

Our Voice of Our Clients research based on interviews with 95 executives reveals a sector under pressure, but also full of possibility.

Key trends for asset/wealth and capital market firms

Three major shifts are reshaping strategy in this sector. How executives respond will define their success in the near term.

  1. Executives are realizing that the newer generation of investors expect personalized, value-aligned and digital-first services. Young people think more about climate. Older people focus on return on investment. Overall, different generations have different challenges.

    Baby boomers are concerned about retirement income. GenXers face college education and elder care funding challenges, and then the newer generation is focused on family planning and value-based investing.

    All these challenges demand more capabilities from advisors, which in turn require more technology investment. Demographic shifts are intensifying.

    Intergenerational wealth transfer and ESG-driven investment preferences are no longer future issues. They're today's reality.

    Leading wealth organizations are rethinking their value proposition to serve digital native, socially conscious investors, without alienating older, higher net worth clients. The pressure to modernize remains intense and uneven.

  2. Digital transformation is happening across the industry. In fact, more than 40% of executives cite enhancing operational efficiencies through digital transformation as a top business priority.

    AI, however, is still in pilot mode for many organizations. This is especially true in asset management, where AI productivity gains haven't yet translated into business outcomes. It's time to push AI beyond the back office and into the customer journey.

  3. Compliance isn't just a box to check, it's strategic leverage. Regulation is a top industry priority, particularly in capital markets. From the European Union's Digital Operational Resilience Act to sustainability disclosures, executives are recalibrating operations to stay ahead, not just stay compliant.

    Together, these trends are driving leaders in asset and wealth management and capital markets to move in a fast and proactive manner to adapt their operations for the next wave of growth.

    Compliance is a critical part of the wealth and asset management business, so if you take the view that it is limiting, you're creating a roadblock from the beginning.

    It is better to accept that compliance is there to help you to run a better business.

    So, why not incorporate it into the things you do from the start? An executive who embraces compliance and ensures that it's integrated not from a top-down approach, but from a bottom-up…

    Compliance is not something that is bolted on after the fact. It is embedded in everything you do.

Case in point: Canadian bank implements full transformation strategy to address regulatory pressure

A large Canadian bank was under regulatory pressure to meet revised Basel III reforms, facing enhanced credit risk capital requirements and stricter OSFI reporting timelines.

Aligning multiple systems, models and reporting templates posed a complex challenge demanding more than a compliance fix.

To respond, we helped the bank implement a full transformation strategy. This included end-to-end support across capital and risk-weighted asset calculations, data extraction and systems integration. A scalable end user tool was also developed to automate and source key RWA figures with integrated support across business and IT for regulatory submissions.

The bank met its compliance deadlines, improved financial reporting accuracy, and built a stronger foundation for future mandates, turning a regulatory burden into a data-driven advantage.

Instead of simply hiring new and hoping for great outcomes, they're leveraging the people they have in-house who have institutional knowledge.

Partnering with folks like CGI in uplifting the skillset of the employees… So, the end result is you have happier employees.

You have a partner sitting side by side, so it really is a win-win strategy that executives are now adopting in the space.

Moving beyond testing to achieve trusted outcomes

Our Voice of Our Clients insights are clear; the industry is moving forward, but unevenly.

The gap between those testing transformation and those living it is growing.

In a sector shaped by regulation, innovation and trust, speed matters.

A key question for organizations is: Are you piloting progress or scaling it?

Through compliance, cloud, AI and strategies, executives can move beyond testing to achieve real transformation and trusted outcomes.