Financial management is evolving as wealth is transferred to the next — more digital — generation.  

In previous years, Robinhood and other wealth management applications attracted young investors by offering commission-free trading and more intuitive, gamified experiences, Sarah Lamont, senior associate at venture capital firm F-Prime, told FinAi News.  

But that was so 10 years ago.

“We expect that both traditional wealth management firms and wealthtech companies alike will need to evolve to address their users’ expectations around the speed, automation and personalization that AI can offer,” she said. 

In fact, only 40% of retail investment wealth is managed by professional investors, while the remaining 60% is managed through automated tools or retail investors themselves, according to F-Prime’s State of Wealth 2025 report, published on Oct. 1. 

“With better AI tools and gen AI, wealth managers can provide more personalized services at scale to clients,” Sara Elinson, managing director and partner at consultancy L.E.K. Consulting’s financial services practice, told FinAi News. “Customers can also ask general wealth management questions in natural language to AI and get a plan for their financial future.” 

New AI tools 

AI is already changing wealthtech, Connor Coughlin, chief customer officer at wealthtech provider Apex Group, told FinAi News. 

His company announced a new AI-driven wealth management platform on Sept. 30 that allows retail clients to invest in private companies. The platform uses AI to digitalize processes, reduce administrative burdens and match investors with curated private investment opportunities. 

Other wealthtech providers that use AI tools for investing are: 

• Acorn; 

• Envestnet; and  

• Osaic. 

 Fintechs step in

Traditional FIs will look to AI and new tech to grow market share amid the wealth transfer, Lamont said, adding that “fintech partnerships can help incumbents with speed to market, though larger FIs will consider in-house development in the long-term.” 

Legacy wealth management firms are evaluating the use of AI across their value chains, from onboarding and account administration to servicing of clients, Lamont said. 

“Advisers are using AI for front-office activities like finding new prospective clients and generating bespoke financial plans for them, but also for administrative activities like notetaking, task management and automating the creation of client meeting materials,” she said. 

Apex Group, for example, provides FIs investing tools to embed in their platforms “straight out of the box,” Coughlin said, adding that it also provides customizable investing platforms according to the needs of FIs. 

The New York-based company offers its services globally and has more than 200 institutional clients serving 20 million end customers, Coughlin said. 

“I think the smart wealth managers are going to leverage AI so that they can be more efficient and focus their efforts where they’re most effective, which is managing relationships,” Coughlin said. “Some customers, on the other hand, will say that they are fine with taking advice from AI.” 

Check out our exclusive new bank industry data here.