Q2 2025 Trend Report
RIAs and Large Institutions Surge Ahead in AI Use; Bank Trust Falls Behind in Adoption

Two years ago, AI exploded into our lives and every industry scrambled to get a handle on what it meant for business. Today, AI is an omnipresent element of our lives. We come across it in ways we probably don’t even know about. Wealth management is no exception.

In these two years wealth management had identified use cases for AI in automation, predictive analytics, and more. F2’s new trend report, based on responses from its national cohort of wealth management firms representing $6 trillion in AUM, shows an overall increase of 23% in AI use across the industry. However, most of that use is among RIAs and large wealth managers. Bank trust firms lag behind significantly in adoption.

“There are clear benefits of AI use in the industry to streamline operations and allow advisors more time to build stronger client relationships,” said Doug Fritz, F2 Strategy Co-founder and Executive Chairman. “While RIAs have embraced the disruptive technology, we’re concerned that the bank trust sector will fall even further behind in its ability to compete for client relationships.”

Below, the full report benchmarks the growth of AI in the wealth management industry since F2’s initial AI study in 2023 and reveals areas of continuing challenge. Read the five big trends:

Trend 1

The Percentage of Firms Using AI Increased 23% in Two Years

Insights and Actionable Intel:

  • Smaller RIAs access AI technology through vendor relationships while larger institutions take a DIY/build in-house approach.
  • Reported benefits of AI technology include cost savings, reduced NIGOs, better insights, more preparation for client meetings, and more time for higher-value activities.
  • Take Action: Do not get left behind, find use cases where AI can unlock efficiencies and elevate your advisor and client experience and jump in.
Trend 2

Bank Trust's Lack of AI Adoption is Cause for Alarm

Insights and Actionable Intel:

  • Of the 74% of firms that report currently using AI, about 80% are RIAs (or Hybrid RIAs).
  • Of the 26% of firms that report not currently using AI, 90% are Trust Companies.
  • The risk is that bank-based wealth management — already behind with monolithic technology — will slide even further back on margins and advisor expectations.
  • Take Action: This trend is an alarm bell for the bank and trust industry. Banks need to take AI tools seriously and deploy them to drive better experiences for less cost with faster throughput; increase scalability; and help with the overhead of operations, P&L accounting, regulatory reporting, and other complexities they face.
Trend 3

Wealth Managers’ Understanding of AI Boomed in Two Years

Insights and Actionable Intel:

  • The number of firms who consider their understanding of AI to be “low” (5 out of 10 or less) dropped dramatically (22%) between 2023 and 2025.
  • Over 60% of firms are confident in their ability to implement their AI initiatives successfully.
  • As they implement AI, firms report they still want a deeper understanding of how to balance compliance regulations, train staff on new tools, and monitor AI’s usage within the firm.
  • Take Action: If you still feel uncertain about AI reach out to your peers or third-party consultants to learn how other firms have found success with AI.
Trend 4

Routine Business Processes Prime Target for Use Cases in Wealth Management

Insights and Actionable Intel:

  • AI is assisting advisors with note taking and meeting preparation tools; low-hanging fruit that provides meaningful value.
  • The number of firms using AI tools to structure disparate unstructured data is gaining.
  • AI tools speed up the time to deliver compliant messages from advisors to their clients and eliminate the bottleneck on the compliance desk.
  • Tools using optical character recognition (OCR) create efficiencies in alternatives data processing. There is an opportunity to use natural language processing (NLP) to analyze trust documents, but will Trust companies lean into it?
  • More complex wealth firms with in-house development teams find coding assistance to be critical in code review and expediting development cycles.
  • Firms are using platforms that support estate and tax planning with AI assisted tools.
  • Take Action: Many tools aim to solve a specific niche; think critically on how your tools can interact within an ideal connective state. Avoid getting caught with a number of niche tools that are duplicative and make your world more complex.
Trend 5

Predictive Analytics was the Only Area to Decrease in Importance for Future Opportunites

Insights and Actionable Intel:

  • In 2023, the idea was for AI to “tell me something that I don’t already know”; today’s marketplace is more about tactical operational efficiency and the lack of expected benefit of predictive analytics reflects that shift.
  • Workflow automation, generative AI (GenAI), and NPL each increased in importance by 20% or more (GenAI and NPL passed predictive analytics)
  • The top three areas of opportunity have evolved more rapidly and offer much better ROI than predictive analytics right now.
  • Take Action: Continue to focus on strengthening your data. To really utilize predictive analytics a firm's data has to be good. Using AI to predict future outcomes requires the data going in to be accurate and complete.
SUrvey Information

The data in this report is generated from a survey conducted by F2 Strategy in April 2025. The survey includes responses from 42 leading RIAs, Wealth Management firms and Broker/Dealers representing $5 trillion in assets.

ABOUT F2 Strategy

F2 Strategy is a premier wealth management solutions firm that helps complex RIA, wealth management, bank and trust, and family office firms enhance both client and advisor experiences, while optimizing their business for future growth.

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