Personalization is especially important as the number of high-net-worth clients grows.Drazen Zigic/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
Artificial intelligence is building wealth and making investing easier and more efficient, yet investors still crave more personalized, human advice that too few advisors offer, a new report says.
The Capgemini World Wealth Report 2026, released Thursday, says investors are increasingly interested in an individualized approach to their financial needs and want more planning services, with technology as the engine.
“Firms succeed by offering advice that’s consistently relevant, anticipatory and unmistakably human,” states the report, which describes personalization as “both the industry’s defining challenge and its greatest opportunity.”
AI is helping drive the personalization clients crave by enabling firms to process data and manage administrative tasks more quickly and accurately, giving advisors more insight and time to work one-on-one with clients.
“The takeaway is clients are expecting more time. Time translates into personalization, and all of that can be enabled through technology and AI,” says Kartik Ramakrishnan, chief executive officer, financial services, at Capgemini. “I think, as we’re in this transition phase, that artificial intelligence will really help the advisor be more valuable to their customers.”
Rising wealth means more prospects
Mr. Ramakrishnan says personalization is especially important as the number of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) grows. The report shows global HNWI wealth rose by 8.7 per cent in 2025 from a year earlier to a record US$98.3-trillion. It was the largest single-year increase since 2018, the report notes, driven by strong equity markets and easing inflation.
In Canada, 30,000 new people became millionaires last year, an increase of 6.7 per cent, driven by the strong performance of the S&P/TSX Composite Index. Overall, HNWI wealth rose 8.2 per cent year over year in Canada to US$1.6-trillion.
Mr. Ramakrishnan says an increase in wealth presents an opportunity for advisors to capture a larger share of investors’ assets and grow their books.
“It creates more wealth opportunities to diversify, put [capital] in other segments and show better returns, so you can get a larger share of the client’s wealth,” he says.
Investors are also looking for more quality and breadth in their advisor relationships, including alternative assets, tax and retirement planning.
Capgemini’s research shows 69 per cent of wealth management executives identify retirement planning (described in the report as “longevity planning and health-linked solutions”) as the most important service for HNWIs. In Canada, that number jumps to 80 per cent.
Orchestration influences wallet share
The Capgemini research also shows that wealthier investors are less monogamous with their money as they seek out specialized services.
In 2025, 31 per cent of Canadian HNWIs worked with a single firm, down from 56 per cent in 2019. Globally, that number dropped to 19 per cent in 2025 from 39 per cent in 2019.
Put another way, 21 per cent of Canadian HNWIs worked with four to six wealth management firms in 2025, up from 13 per cent in 2019. Globally, that figure doubled to 25 per cent in 2025 from 12 per cent over the same period.
“This fragmentation reflects HNWIs’ growing sophistication and their belief that specialized providers are better aligned to specific needs and use cases,” the report states. “This decline in mindshare translates directly into measurable losses in wallet share.”
The good news for advisors is they’ll likely see more referrals if they provide the extra services investors want. The report says 39 per cent of Canadian HNWIs recommend their advisors to others when they’re happy with the service and 43 per cent said they would consolidate more wealth with firms that provide integrated specialist access.
Globally, 53 per cent of HNWI investors satisfied with their firm’s orchestration capabilities would recommend their firm to others, and 47 per cent would consolidate more wealth with firms providing integrated access to specialists, such as accountants, insurance and legal specialists.
“The commercial case for orchestration is clear,” the report states. “Orchestration influences wallet share directly.”
A major issue for Canadian wealth firms is their ability to offer the personalized, value-added services investors want.
Of the 55 wealth management executives surveyed in Canada, Capgemini says all of them reported segmenting clients primarily by wealth and risk profiles. Mr. Ramakrishnan says this practice limits a firm’s ability to tailor experience to increasingly diverse client needs.
On the client side, only 11 per cent of the 200 Canadian HNWIs surveyed felt their advisory experience had been seamless and personalized. Also, more than half (53 per cent) said they need to repeat information multiple times to the same firm because information provided across different channels isn’t combined.
“As a result, clients were often required to restate their preferences and intent, disrupting continuity, weakening trust, and diminishing the overall experience,” the report notes.