To grasp the challenges that banks face in wealth and asset management markets, it’s worth initially scanning the broader banking landscape. Most relevant is that banks no longer compete only with each other; they are increasingly competing with tech-native platforms, public and private asset managers going direct to consumers, and decentralized finance firms. The traditional full-service, balance-sheet-heavy model is under pressure across all fronts: wealth, payments, credit, and capital markets.

Partly as a result, traditional banks have slipped from capturing 95% of the addressable revenue pool in the early 2000s to about 80% today. By 2030, we estimate they could hold only 65%, further ceding ground to fast-moving challengers emphasizing asset outperformance (see Figure 1).

Intensifying competition demands from banks a full value-chain redesign, not incremental change. To that end, we will explore six disruptive trends pertaining to wealth and asset management—and what it takes for banks to win amid rising disintermediation.

Six provocations reshaping the game

1. Performance, not products, wins clients. Fee compression is real—but so is the upside for the companies that manage to generate alpha on clients’ investments. Beta pricing (on funds that mirror a particular basket of assets) is collapsing, with margins on passive investments expected to shrink by 15 basis points, on average, by 2030—a 6% compound annual rate.

In light of the trend in beta investments, banks must pivot from product distribution to delivering differentiated alpha—that grail of returns that beat the market benchmark over time while matching each client’s appetite for risk. Delivering results, not just access, is a critical component of attracting and retaining customers. That logic informs Goldman Sachs’s recent decision to acquire Innovator Capital Management, which uses options contracts to offer investors protection from market downturns while retaining access to some of the gains.

2. Advice goes algorithmic. Business models enabled by full-stack digital technologies and AI allow firms to scale up profitably by reducing operating costs and delivering an experience that appeals especially to younger investors. In a digital world, clients can switch advisers more easily based on performance. So as banks scale up by investing in AI and other technologies, they must do so in ways that maintain credibility and trust among customers.

3. Manufacturers move direct to consumer. More asset managers are moving forward along the value chain, posing a threat to banks on their traditional turf. Vanguard and Fidelity, for example, are expanding their direct-to-consumer engines. Vanguard carved out its wealth management and advice division into a separate unit, with $900 billion of client assets under management in 2024. Fidelity acquired the personal investing business of Legal & General in the UK. And alternative asset firms such as KKR and Blackstone have been directly engaging with large family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals.

Even private equity and debt markets are becoming more accessible to individuals via new digital platforms and the easing of regulations. As asset managers claim more direct relationships with investors, they will earn more trust, share of wallet, and data. Banks will need to counter with stronger owned distribution channels and improved technology platforms.

4. Banking becomes plug and play. As interfaces become modular, the winners will be companies that control access. Open finance and real-time payment rails are enabling API-native players to plug into core banking functions and siphon off value. Tech-intensive nonbank traders such as Jane Street have also gained ground without needing banking licenses. Banks will have to fight to remain gatekeepers, building or partnering into ecosystems that embed services into the overall client experience.

5. New forms of assets create new consumer value—and competition. Stablecoins, tokenized assets, and private credit are creating new off-balance-sheet arenas, and interest is growing in tokenized assets and private credit. Real-time rails plus the growing use of blockchain shift value away from legacy intermediaries. And nonbank firms are expanding their loan origination.

Digital assets including stablecoins and tokenized securities are creating new access and ways to invest for broader sets of investors. Stablecoins today pay rewards that are competitive with structured deposits, and the pace is growing rapidly, with a market capitalization surpassing $300 billion in October 2025. Payment of rewards will get further regulatory clarification over the coming year, and the potential for further deregulation may support growth in a broad range of tokenized assets, making access easier and cheaper.

Losing revenues from deposits would be a major threat for many banks, so pressure intensifies for them to clarify their role in the new capital stack. Whether that’s as ecosystem integrators, originators, or infrastructure participants, staying passive is not an option.

6. Borders are back, with local plays winning in certain dimensions. Trade issues are reshaping global banking economics. On top of a fivefold rise in the number of trade restrictions imposed from 2015 through 2023, a surge in tariffs and political risk in recent years is slowing globalization, putting cross-border flows under pressure. Regulatory trends are diverging, such as the US shifting to more relaxed regulation while some other regions adopt more stringent approaches. As a result, local agility and regulatory fluency become more important than global reach in some cases, challenging global incumbents.

Three paths to viability

Broadly speaking, banks aiming to address the challenges head-on can consider three paths, each of which includes options to build, buy, or partner to gain the necessary capabilities and technologies.

The first path is becoming a digital gatekeeper, which might consist of an expanded mobile app plus an API ecosystem to provide customers with front-door access across retail, small business, and wealth segments. To expand the feeder network for new clients, a bank could build its own app and portal, or it could acquire a robo adviser or neobank. Rich data will be essential to provide superior insights and advice to clients, with much of that data coming from partners.

An alternative path involves becoming an alpha powerhouse with a large-scale balance sheet and an edge in using AI to analyze data. To expand geographic coverage, a bank choosing this course could invest in priority growth hubs or acquire digital banking or multi-asset traders in those key regions.

The third path creates an asset-light orchestrator that maintains a minimal balance sheet and coordinates best-of-breed partners. On most dimensions, such as investment manufacturing and advice services, the orchestrator would probably partner with specialist firms.

Banks that want to determine the best next steps should answer a set of high-gain questions:

• Should we double down on genuinely differentiated alpha engines or exit commoditized beta manufacturing altogether? What could our next-generation alpha engines look like in an increasingly efficient market?
• How will we turn proprietary data and client insights into a mass-market advisory proposition that creates a wealth management moat? How can we leverage other data assets, such as those from investment banking or transaction flows, to enhance advice?
• Through which routes can we continue to acquire more new clients over the next few years, especially if we lack major feeder channels? Which client needs and subsegments do we want to target?
• Which build-buy-partner strategies will allow us to outpace both established and emerging rivals, retain ownership of the client interface, and play a defining role in the open-finance API ecosystem?
• How will we use build-buy-partner choices in private credit, tokenized assets, and stablecoin infrastructure to unlock off-balance-sheet capital flows? And how do we protect our broader value chain from disintermediation?
• Which markets will drive 80% of our future growth, and how should we recalibrate our home-base strategy to thrive in a more protectionist world?

In a market defined by choice, customers will gravitate to the firms that earn their trust and prove, not just promise, that they can outperform.