Asset managers are retreating from broad product expansion and redirecting capital toward operational discipline, strategic outsourcing, and artificial intelligence, according to a new global survey.
The findings, drawn from Northern Trust's biennial report Driving Growth in Asset Management 2026, are based on responses from 300 chief executive officers, chief investment officers, and operations directors at asset management firms across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific. The survey was conducted in spring 2026 by InvestOps Insights on behalf of Northern Trust.
The data reveal a meaningful strategic shift from two years ago. The share of asset managers identifying product expansion as a top priority fell to 47 percent in 2026, down from 60 percent in 2024, per the Northern Trust report.
At the same time, product reduction climbed from 5 percent to 28 percent of respondents, a figure that points to an industry increasingly willing to shed complexity rather than add to it.
The appetite for outsourcing non-core activities has more than doubled since the last survey cycle.
Northern Trust's report found 39 percent of managers plan to achieve their priorities through increased outsourcing, up from 18 percent in 2024. The shift reflects both cost pressures and a recognition that running every function in-house no longer delivers a competitive edge in an environment defined by margin compression and rising operational complexity.
"Managers are doing more with fewer, more strategic partners," said Angelo Calvitto, head of Asia Pacific at Northern Trust. "The goal is not only lower cost, but a more straightforward operating model with stronger control, better quality and the scale to support future growth."
That sentiment aligns with broader trends in the advisory space. Outsourcing investment management is increasingly linked to advisor growth, according to a separate 2026 study by AssetMark, Inc., which found that advisors who outsource at least 20 percent of assets under management save an average of 9.1 hours per week.
On the cost-control side, offshoring emerged as the leading measure cited in the Northern Trust survey, referenced by 69 percent of respondents, while outsourcing non-core activities rose to 42 percent.
Rather than casting a wide net for new business, asset managers are becoming more deliberate about who they target and how.
More than half of respondents told Northern Trust they plan to pursue new client types and expand into new global markets but the language is one of focus, not scatter.
Ryan Burns, head of Asset Managers and Private Markets, Americas at Northern Trust, based in Chicago, described the shift as firms channeling resources toward investment expertise, client outcomes, and distribution rather than broad-based expansion.
"Rather than pursuing broad-based expansion, firms are directing resources toward investment expertise, client outcomes and distribution, while extending successful strategies through vehicles such as ETFs, semi-liquid funds and collective investment trusts," Burns said.
On the technology front, the survey produced one of its starkest results: every single respondent reported deploying artificial intelligence in some capacity, a finding that underscores how completely AI has moved from a talking point to an operating reality. Leading use cases included data accuracy and quality control, document management, and research support.
The results echo a separate Mercer survey from May 2026, which found that 55 percent of asset managers had integrated AI into at least one investment process, with 27 percent still at the pilot or proof-of-concept stage, per Mercer's 2026 AI in Asset Management Survey.
Universal AI deployment has sharpened the industry's focus on the infrastructure beneath the tools. Nearly half of Northern Trust's survey respondents identified consolidating data from multiple sources as their biggest data challenge. Front-office teams pointed to sourcing and aggregating investment analytics as their primary pain point.
"AI is moving from experimentation to implementation across the industry," said Nick Gilbert, head of Asset Servicing, EMEA at Northern Trust. "But its value will depend on the quality, governance and accessibility of the data beneath it. This is not just a technology issue; it is an operating model and resilience issue."
That observation cuts to the heart of where the industry stands heading into the second half of 2026. The tools are present; the question is whether the data foundations can support what firms are now asking AI to do. As asset managers accelerate AI adoption amid economic uncertainty, the firms treating it as long-term operational infrastructure, rather than a short-term efficiency play, appear to be building the more durable competitive position.
Northern Trust's full report, Driving Growth in Asset Management 2026, is available on the Northern Trust website.
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