As UHNW and HNW clients demand real-time, predictive and globally consolidated wealth oversight, Azimut Investment Management is re-architecting private wealth management from first principles. In his contribution to the Asian Private Wealth Management Outlook 2026, Jackson Ng, COO & CTO, argues that true personalisation is not a front-end feature but a data governance challenge – one that requires unified architecture, permissioned intelligence and AI systems designed to amplify, not replace, human judgement. From agentic advisory workflows and enterprise-integrated autonomy for relationship managers, to portfolios built for resilience rather than a single market regime, Azimut’s strategy reflects a fundamental shift: rebuilding operating models, technology stacks and investment thinking to deliver measurable value in an increasingly complex, multipolar world.
How are the expectations of UHNW and HNW clients evolving as we enter 2026, and what changes is your organisation making to deliver a more differentiated, personalised and seamless client experience?
As we enter 2026, the expectations of UHNW and HNW clients have fundamentally shifted. Today’s clients demand wealth management that is intuitive, intelligent, and available in real time: not just digitally enabled, but genuinely predictive and personalised. More critically, they expect their wealth to be managed as a single, consolidated global picture, regardless of booking centres, custodians, or jurisdictions. This reflects the reality that families and their assets are increasingly internationally distributed.
The challenge facing our industry is achieving a single source of truth. Even within individual firms, advisors often operate in silos, managing their books differently and creating fragmented, inconsistent client experiences. This is fundamentally a data governance problem: without a permissioned, quality-controlled client dataset, personalisation becomes guesswork rather than strategy.
The response requires rebuilding from the foundation up. This means investing not in feature proliferation, but in redesigning the entire client journey by establishing common workflows, unified data architecture, and clear service standards that eliminate unnecessary handoffs and accelerate onboarding and execution. This integrated operating platform enables personalisation because decisions are grounded in complete client context, not fragmented conversations.
How will your organisation leverage AI, data, automation and digital tools in 2026 to enhance advisory capabilities, improve productivity, and scale high-touch private wealth services?
In 2026, the technology landscape will continue its exponential evolution, from generative AI to agentic systems, world models, and the march toward AGI. Yet amid this rapid advancement, I believe there is a critical window where proprietary data and infrastructure will determine competitive advantage in wealth management.
The focus centers on two foundational layers. First, the data layer: building proprietary datasets that capture the nuanced context of client circumstances, preferences, and behavioral patterns. This isn’t about data volume, but about curating high-quality, permissioned information that can train models specific to private wealth complexities.
Second, the application layer: designing AI agents and applications that truly understand the needs of both clients and advisors. As I often say, for any innovation to succeed in our industry, it must reinforce the client-advisor relationship, not compete with it. This means agentic workflows and AI tools that handle operational complexity and data synthesis, while amplifying the advisor’s ability to deliver judgement and create value. When designed right, technology enhances advisory capacity.
What are your priorities for attracting, developing and retaining top relationship managers and leadership talent, and how are you reshaping your operating model to support them in 2026?
The talent strategy for 2026 centres on a principle I call enterprise integration with individual autonomy: integrating capabilities, infrastructure, and intelligence at the enterprise level, but executing at the advisor level to enable institutional strength with entrepreneurial freedom.
This vision rests on two strategic pillars. First, technology as enabler: personal AI agent assistants that function as digital twins for each advisor, handling client needs, market intelligence, and operational execution. Advisors instruct their AI to execute tasks, surface insights, and manage workflows through natural conversation. The ambition is enabling anyone to succeed as an advisor with this level of augmentation.
Second, supported independence: equipping advisors with investment platforms, technology, and operations infrastructure to run AI-supported single-person businesses without establishing their own operations. This explores whether the ‘one-person unicorn’ thesis can be applied responsibly in private wealth management.
Ultimately, this is about democratizing operations, not talent. Removing the operational ceiling so exceptional advisors can build practices limited only by their ambition and client relationships.
Which investment themes, products and strategies do you expect will resonate most with UHNW and HNW clients in 2026, and why?
In 2026, I expect client conversations to pivot toward Resilience and Reality. The era of growth at any cost is giving way to portfolios built for regime management, not a single base case. Markets may still reward risk, but geopolitical uncertainty and elevated valuations mean resilience matters as much as return.
Two investment themes stand out. First, geopolitical hard power. Geopolitics is no longer just a risk overlay but a primary investment driver in a multipolar world. This is reshaping capital allocation across sectors tied to national resilience and economic sovereignty.
Second, applied technology and the AI buildout. I expect 2026 to be the year AI leaves the chat window and enters the real world. The opportunity set now spans both the infrastructure layer of compute, energy, and grid capacity, and the application layer, where AI agents and agentic workflows are being deployed to drive tangible productivity gains across industries, not just model scaling.
The common thread is substance over speculation. Clients want exposure to structural shifts with real economic impact, whether in geopolitical repositioning or technology that delivers measurable utility.
As competition intensifies across private banks, EAMs, MFOs and digital wealth platforms, what are your top strategic priorities to future-proof your business and sustain growth over the next 12–18 months?
Strategic priorities over the next 12 to 18 months are built on three pillars: personalization, integration, and value creation.
First, personalization at scale: systems that adapt to each client and advisor, where users feel genuinely understood through their behaviors, portfolio context, and service preferences. This requires strong data governance and permissioned intelligence that enables AI-driven personalization embedded into every interaction.
Second, integration as a design philosophy. The definition of integration has evolved from integrating solutions into your ecosystem to making your solutions integrable with any ecosystem. This means API-driven, AI-callable, and agent-ready architecture that reduces multi-application friction, enables agentic workflows at scale, and allows proprietary capabilities to function across platforms.
Third, value creation as the first principle. Every initiative must link to measurable client outcomes, because relationships are built on trust, and trust is earned through consistent value delivery. Technology changes how value is delivered, not the purpose served.
These priorities demand continuous innovation and operational resilience. Future-proofing isn’t about defending current models but rebuilding them with digital strategy at the core.
