“Clients are and always will be at the front of everything we do,” explains Ann Prendergast. “That is where we always start. And then we’re thinking about how that feeds into our vision and our strategy. We’re positioning ourselves for growth, and that’s client led.”
“It’s a fiduciary industry,” Enda agrees. “It’s all about acting in the clients’ best interests. Managing assets over the long term requires an incredible level of trust.”
That trust and client-centricity remain the fixed points around which innovation turns, according to Niamh Geraghty, “because for all the technology and transformation, it is still about earning and protecting that enduring trust.”
“Recognizing the direction of travel of the industry, technology is hugely important” says McMahon highlighting the importance of progress. “We are positioning ourselves for the future and indeed shaping it through our commitment to the ecosystem and by advocating for sensible policy outcomes, which will drive industry growth”
Prendergast agrees, noting that the industry’s relationship with technology has fundamentally evolved. At State Street IM, technology is viewed in three ways: “How it allows us to engage with clients. How it helps us manage our business more effectively, and how it supports our investment decisions.”
“One key focus,” Prendergast continues, “is being less reactive and more proactive, giving end investors, whether institutional or retail, timely access to information about their portfolios so they can make informed decisions instantly. Technology allows that.”
For Geraghty, this reflects Deloitte’s view and a broader industry shift. “Technology is, in effect, democratizing access.”
“Exactly that. Eighteen- to twenty-five-year-olds are already actively engaging with technology and investments,” Prendergast explains. “Their allocations may be small today, but platforms allow them to participate, and we are seeing this across Europe. With a significant intergenerational transfer of wealth expected in about fifteen years, this cohort will already be accustomed to digital engagement. The industry needs to be ready for that.”
One area of continued evolution for both firms is in Exchange- Traded-Funds (ETFs). “The wrapper is inherently flexible and lends itself to innovation,” McMahon notes.
“ETFs, private markets, high-growth regions like the Middle East and APAC, that’s where we’re positioning for growth,” Prendergast adds. “We have built an expanding network of strategic partnerships that complement our expertise, from specialists to product providers to wealth platforms.”
As the discussion turns to the intersection of innovation and digitization, attention shifts to tokenization and digital assets.
“There’s a sense of inevitability around tokenization,” McMahon says. “It represents other assets in ways that facilitate fractionalization, make them easier to distribute and, increased accessibility. We’ve been discussing it for a long time, but I think the tipping point will come when legal and regulatory views align.”
“Enda is absolutely right,” Prendergast agrees. “It’s that confluence of technology, regulation, user experience, and institutional integration that we must bring together. We’ve been thinking about this for some time, but it’s one of those areas where all stakeholders must work together.”
Deloitte has witnessed the same dynamic in other emerging technologies. But progress depends not just on innovation, but on alignment.
“There’s an expectation that by 2030, 22% of private-markets Assets Under Management (AUM) will be held by individual investors, including retail clients” Prendergast notes. “This asset class is no longer just institutional. Retail investors are seeing the advantages of private markets and want access. They want managers who think about how private markets fit with their overall portfolio.”
McMahon echoes that sentiment. “These are major growth areas. Managing private assets requires different infrastructure and different operational models. They are less scalable and more complex, but we see them as a fundamental part of the future portfolio, maybe something like 50-30-20, with 20% allocated to private assets.”
Whether through partnership or acquisition, both approaches point to the same truth. “Private markets are where much of the innovation is happening,” Niamh observes, “but they require a different kind of resilience.”
When the conversation pivots to artificial intelligence, all three agree that its potential is enormous, but so are the responsibilities that come with it.
“Of course, AI is really important,” Prendergast points out, “but it comes with significant considerations: regulatory compliance, legal considerations, data privacy, confidentiality. We also have to consider third-party oversight, and ethics and ensure our people feel empowered to use these tools responsibly.”
“We’re bringing AI to our boards on a regular basis,” adds McMahon, “and asking our service providers to present to us on their AI offerings. It carries huge potential in terms of scale and efficiency, but there are operational challenges too, getting people comfortable with it, bringing boards on the journey. People have to be encouraged and trained responsibly, with policies and guardrails. But the potential is extraordinary.”
“AI has the power to enhance human judgment rather than replace it,” Geraghty agrees. “Firms that succeed are those that pair technological fluency with emotional intelligence as this is essential to the next generation of leadership.”
“We’re in a time of tremendous change,” Prendergast says, and leaders must help their teams feel empowered and safe as they navigate through this. Leaders need to have emotional intelligence and resilience.”
For McMahon, the challenge is sustaining adaptability and empathy at scale. “Leadership now means being comfortable with change and creating cultures where curiosity and openness thrive. Authoritarian styles don’t work anymore. It’s empathy that connects people.”
Inevitably, the discussion turns to consolidation, a defining feature of today’s investment landscape.
“I think consolidation is a good thing,” McMahon says. “Scale allows you to continue to innovate, and that innovation offers further choice. Some worry about reduced competition, but I don’t see it that way. Consolidation brings operational strength, client safety, and value for money.”
“Institutional investors and wealth platforms are increasingly wanting to do business with fewer providers,” adds Prendergast. Larger firms are better suited to give investors a breadth of product offering across asset classes, risks, and geographies at attractive price points. That’s driving consolidation. And while there will always be niche players, clients want to focus on larger partners, and then select specialists for specific gaps. It’s a trend that will continue.”
“Simplicity in a complex world.” Geraghty adds. “Clients are looking for fewer, deeper relationships, and that’s reshaping how value is defined.” Fee compression is both a driver and a consequence of that consolidation.
“Fee compression has been a feature of this industry for such a long time,” says McMahon. “We seem to get more fee compression in two years now than we used to in five. It’s not going away. You have to have scale to make sure you can continue to run your business with reasonable profitability in the face of lower revenues per unit of assets managed, and you have to innovate in spaces where you can support a different price point.”
As the discussion draws to a close, the focus shifts to the policy environment, particularly Europe’s ambition to build a Savings and Investment Union.
“There’s a lot of talk about financial services doing more to grow the real economy,” McMahon reflects. “There’s so much capital sitting in low-yielding or zero-yielding accounts that needs to be mobilized. But there’s a dissonance between the policy objectives and what’s happening. We need a regulatory infrastructure that allows those funds to flow.”
Across the industry, momentum is building, but challenges remain. “The EU is making progress,” Prendergast adds “but there’s still a lot more we could be doing. We need to remove barriers to scale and think about how to make investment accessible for citizens. Ireland has an opportunity, we have one of the largest fund domiciles in the world, but we still have billions sitting on deposit. That’s a gap we have to address.”
