Event Perspectives: Deals & Dealmakers, Future Proof Festival, ATO Annual Meeting, and TUG

September is a very busy season in wealth management. As firms kick off planning and budgeting for the coming year, they also gather a number of industry events. F2 joined them for these in-person sessions and as we’ve done in the past, we took some time to reflect on the biggest themes that came out of each event and how we see them shaping the industry’s next moves. Here’s where we were in Q3 2025 and what we think the conversations mean for the wealth management and asset servicing industry:

Deals and Dealmakers Summit 2025

Advisory M&A / Mitigating Risk / Brand Development

In attendance: Doug Fritz, speaker for the “Ask the Experts” panel

This is F2's fourth time at Deals and Dealmakers, which we have been present for since its inception. As a private equity-backed technology consulting firm that supports other PE-backed advisory firms, this event always brings us maximum value when we network and listen to other experts' perspectives.

As firms get bigger in the advisory M&A space, the nature of firms start to change, ranging from their culture to the technology they use, their organizational structure, and the client and prospect segments they service. This year, we're starting to see firms distinguish themselves as they prepare for long-term success: firms who have done the homework by investing their marketing dollars into growth and expansion are clarifying their ethos, culture, and their target audience segments; whereas firms who've rapidly grown but haven't invested in their brand or culture may see some difficulties over the next few years as valuations come into play.

Future Proof Festival

AI / Marketing

In attendance: Doug Fritz, Liz Fritz, Dan Johnson, Jaci Stanton, Bryce Carter, and Michelle Borkowski

Jaci Stanton, presenter “Turning Data into Your Firm’s Most Valuable Asset”

Doug Fritz, presenter “AI in the Real World: RIA Use Cases

This big event just keeps getting bigger. F2 played a large role, leading the WealthTech Executive Experience. We also hosted a Women’s Happy Hour to provide a space where women working in this field can collaborate and share ideas on a number of career and industry issues. While it may look like a party on the beach from the outside, deals really do get done here. The quality of the program content, vendor showcase, and in particular, the breakout one-on-one “speed dating” sessions connect people with the services they need.  

Like every event we’ve attended this year, AI was the focus of many of our conversations. Over the past year, AI has moved from a curiosity to a reality for the majority of firms. With so many shiny objects out there, wealth management firms have to choose the innovative technology solutions that have a place within their overall tech stack and plan future use cases in order to make their businesses stronger with the investment. There is no silver bullet out there that will solve all of your needs so careful planning and strategic thought is required for making AI work.  

Another important topic is marketing. Organic growth continues to be a concern for independent and PE-backed firms alike. We loved seeing the bevy of vendors Future Proof brought to the table that empower organic growth strategies through the use of automation tools, AI insights on audience segments, and lead source generators. Their solutions are helping our clients invest in AI native growth engines, use their untapped data to leverage dormant lead lists, generate personalized content, and find clients that are the right match for long term relationships.

Association for Trust Organizations Annual Meeting  

AI / Workflow Automations / Data / Trust Organizations

In attendance: Scott Lamont, Trasha Schwendener, Tim Buhler and Maddie Bilodeau

Scott Lamont and Trasha Schwendener, presenters “How Trust Companies Can Compete, Collaborate, and Evolve

We were thrilled to be the presenting sponsor of this year’s Annual Meeting. We led an insights-driven discussion including a panel discussion with industry leaders John Supplee, Thomas Monroe, and Melissa Sommer that shared best practices and insights on project success and failures. Some key highlights of our findings include:

• A small majority (60%) of Trust companies said they have had meaningful impact from an investment in technology over the last two years.
• Over 70% of respondents said their digital client experience is not good and needs help!
• Trust Officers are clamoring for better workflow automations.​

Watch a Clip from Panelist Thomas Monroe

TUG

AI / Compliance

In attendance: Scott Lamont, Bryce Carter, and Tim Buhler

Scott Lamont, presenter AI Best Practices for Wealth Management  

The most consistent topic that arises at meetings within the Trust community centers around improving the efficiency and experience of Trust platforms and firms want to know how AI can help. However, many firms still have challenges with operations and data that could prevent them from really taking advantage of AI capabilities.

The industry is going in the right direction. We still received a lot of questions about how and where to take advantage of AI and what firms could do to leverage the technology, but we’ve been encouraged to see less fear and more motivation to integrate AI from banks and Trust companies. The industry needs to be clear on what needs AI and what just needs good user interface and design.

Compliance is another area that poses a stumbling block for AI use. While firms worry there are OCC regulations around using it for communications, the other side of AI and compliance is that there's more opportunity to make trust document reviews and scanning for things like investment policy statements and other things that are time intensive with trust companies more efficient. So, firms need to weigh AI’s use from both sides.

Where To Next

F2 team members will be at SS&C Deliver and Ascend Innovation Summit, the Family Wealth Alliance Fall Forum, and Barron’s Women’s Advisor Summit as well as the Consulting Magazine Women Leaders in Consulting Awards and the ThinkAdvisor Luminary Awards.  

Continue the conversation with us to learn how we help wealth management and asset servicing firms implement critical technology and marketing strategies to optimize growth.  

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