FSI Predictions 2026

Consumer-facing transformation: Access and experience

From AI-powered wealth management services to private capital entering retail portfolios, these shifts are expanding access to sophisticated services while transforming the client experience. Each shift is underpinned by technological advancements that make products and services more economically viable at scale.

The agentic AI productivity wave is heading for wealth management. Agentic AI could unlock a fundamental transformation in wealth management. By automating operational work, the technology may improve advice quality, elevate both adviser and client experiences, and make personalized service economically viable for mass-affluent households. Deloitte projects 30% to 100% productivity gains by 2032, potentially freeing up 25% to 50% of adviser time that is currently spent on operational tasks. These trends could expand industry capacity by the equivalent of US$10 trillion to US$35 trillion in additional client assets.

Agentic AI could help US life insurers reach new customers and narrow the coverage gap. Agentic AI may significantly reshape life insurance distribution by reducing friction across the buying journey and helping more consumers move from awareness to purchase. Deloitte predicts that by 2030, AI-enabled distribution could increase US individual life insurance premiums by roughly 11%, adding approximately US$2 billion in annual incremental premiums and expanding the market to US$21.2 billion.

Meaningful private capital exposure to reach one in six US retail investor funds by 2030. Assets like private equity and private credit were traditionally reserved for institutional investors. Minimum investments and illiquid structures kept private capital exclusive, but registered fund vehicles like interval funds, tender offer funds, exchange-traded funds, and mutual funds are making it accessible through familiar investment structures. Deloitte predicts that by 2030, just under 16% of registered funds may carry meaningful private capital exposure, effectively reaching one in six retail investor funds as structural barriers fall across demand, regulation, and distribution.

Private capital: Tailwinds for growth in US defined contribution plans. Private capital is positioned to become a significant component of 401(k) portfolios, expanding access to millions of people. Under a baseline adoption scenario, allocations could reach approximately 6% of plan assets, topping US$1 trillion by 2030. Adoption is expected to be gradual, with limited early activity before more meaningful scaling begins around 2027.

Housing market shifts could reshape rental operating models for commercial real estate owners. Leasing as a Service (LaaS) models may reposition rental housing as an integrated service experience. Instead of focusing solely on lease terms for single-cycle occupancy, LaaS emphasizes flexibility, mobility, and access offered through a subscription service. The Deloitte Center for Financial Services predicts that the number of US households that rent could increase by as much as 21.7% by 2035 to 56.3 million from today’s 46.2 million, with the rental share reaching as high as 39.3% of all households. As the number of renter households in the United States grows, this LaaS model could unlock new revenue streams and improve tenant retention for property owners.

Rebuilding the operational foundation

Legacy systems, manual processes, and high transaction costs have long constrained what financial institutions can build and how efficiently they can deliver it. The following three prediction articles show how AI is being embedded as the core execution engine in banking products, how stablecoins are creating alternative payment rails with dramatically lower costs, and how blockchain is automating complex fund operations.

How AI-native banking products could reshape institutional banking. AI-native products—in which AI operates as the core execution engine rather than as a supporting layer—could fundamentally redefine institutional banking by embedding autonomous decision-making into treasury, payments, and securities workflows. By 2030, these products could account for up to 25% of institutional banking revenues among the top 50 US banks, representing between US$66 billion and US$75 billion in incremental revenue.

How stablecoins could power the next era of retail payments. Stablecoin rails offer a compelling alternative to traditional payment methods. For small- and mid-sized businesses, processing fees often exceed 2% per transaction, representing a significant operating expense that stablecoins could help reduce. Deloitte forecasts that stablecoin-enabled retail payments in the United States could surpass US$200 billion by 2030, accounting for an estimated 2.6% of noncash transactions through back-end settlement, processing, or funding mechanisms.

Crypto and smart contracts unlock efficiencies across the commercial real estate fund life cycle. Cryptocurrencies and smart contracts could significantly transform commercial real estate fund operations by automating fund flows, reducing transaction costs, and enabling near real-time settlement across key processes such as capital calls, subscriptions, redemptions, and distributions. Deloitte predicts that by 2030, most fund managers will use blockchain-enabled digital assets in at least one part of the fund-flow process, with the highest-value applications in investor transactions, capital contributions and distributions, and property operations.