Paris and Boston-headquartered Natixis Investment Managers, which has over $1.3 trillion of assets under management, has just released a new wealth industry survey looking at the outlook for 2025 in 20 countries including North America, Latin America, the UK, continental Europe and Asia.

The overwhelming majority – 73 per cent – of wealth managers polled by Natixis Investment Managers say they are optimistic about market prospects in 2025, but macroeconomic volatility is a key concern. And 79 per cent of wealth managers think that artificial intelligence has the potential to accelerate earnings growth for the next 10 years, with private assets remaining a core focus for wealth managers.

Growth has been strong for wealth managers over the last five years, as assets under management climbed by 20 per cent globally. However, faced with geopolitical change, economic uncertainty and rapid technological advancements, the firm said that delivering on these expectations would not always be easy.  

The 2025 Natixis Investment Managers Wealth Industry Survey polled the views of 520 global investment professionals responsible for running investment platforms and managing client assets at wealth managers in 20 countries.  

With tariffs rising and a background of geopolitical volatility, the study shows how wealth managers are trying to understand market sentiment. On the upside, they are also working out the impact of the positive side of scientific innovations, for example, reforms in specific countries, such as with the anti-inflation drive of Argentina.

Rankings
Respondents ranked new geopolitical conflicts (38 per cent) as their top economic concern, closely followed by inflation (37 per cent) â€“ 74 per cent of which said they are worried these areas will be reignited by US President Donald Trump policies. This was followed by US-China relations (34 per cent). Two-thirds also forecast only moderate interest rate cuts ahead for their home region.  

However, despite this, 68 per cent of analysts report that they will not adjust return assumptions for 2025, with wealth managers putting strategies in place for their businesses, the market and client portfolios to ensure that they can produce results.  

In view of this, wealth managers are considering how geopolitical turbulence and persistent inflation will play out in the macro environment. Half of those surveyed forecast a soft landing for their region’s economy, with sentiment running strongest for a soft landing in Asia (68 per cent) and the US (58 per cent). This dropped to 46 per cent in Europe and 37 per cent in the UK. In addition, 61 per cent are worried about the prospect of stagflation in Europe.  

When it comes to specific impacts of the US election on economic outlook, two-thirds globally fear a potential trade war. But wealth managers also see opportunity on the horizon, as 64 per cent think the regulatory shifts being proposed by the US President Donald Trump’s administration will spur the development of innovative investment products. Two thirds also think that plans to cut taxes will power a sustained market rally. Taking all of this into consideration, 57 per cent globally said in light of the US election result, clients are more willing to take on risk, with the potential for this to disrupt the cash-holding pattern investors have stuck with since central banks began hiking rates. 

The investment potential of AI 
With the rapid development of generative AI models, 79 per cent of wealth managers said AI has the potential to accelerate earnings growth for the next 10 years. Firms are looking to harness the benefits of new technology in three key areas: tapping into the investment potential of AI, deploying AI to improve their internal investment process and using AI to enhance business operations and client servicing, the survey shows. 

Almost seven in 10 (69 per cent) said AI will enhance the investing process by helping them to uncover hidden opportunities and another 62 per cent said AI is becoming an essential tool for evaluating market risks. In fact, the potential is that 58 per cent said firms that do not integrate AI will become obsolete. 

In view of this, 58 per cent said their firm has already implemented AI tools in their investment process. The survey shows that the highest concentration of early adopters are found at wealth management firms in Germany (72 per cent), France (69 per cent) and Switzerland (64 per cent). 

Beyond investment opportunities and portfolio management applications, wealth managers also anticipate that AI will impact the service side of the business. Overall, just over three quarters (77 per cent) said AI will help meet their growth goal of integrating a wider array of services. However, tech can be a double-edged sword, as 52 per cent also worry that AI is helping to make robo-advice a meaningful competitive threat.  

“Wealth managers face a wide range of challenges in 2025, educating their clients to the benefits of owning private investments, to finding the best ways to integrate AI into their investment and business processes,” Cecile Mariani, head of global financial institutions, Natixis IM said. “However, despite potential roadblocks, wealth managers are confident that they can harness potential disruptors to unlock new opportunities and live up to the AuM growth goals they need to hit in 2025.” 

Private assets
Technology may have the potential to reshape the industry, but firms face the more immediate challenges of meeting client investment preferences and return expectations, the firm said. Globally, portfolios are now relying on a mix of 88 per cent public assets and 12 per cent private, a spread that is likely to narrow as the focus on private assets intensifies. Forty-eight per cent said that meeting client demand for unlisted assets will be a critical factor in their growth plans.  

However, not everything is smooth sailing in fulfilling the demand for private asset allocation. Over one-quarter said access to private assets, or lack thereof, is a threat to their business. New product structures are helping to ease the pressure however, with nearly two-thirds saying that retail-friendly private asset vehicles help enhance diversification. The next challenge here will be education, as 42 per cent said client understanding of liquidity can be a hurdle to incorporating private assets. That said, illiquidity can work in favour of some investors, as 75 per cent of wealth managers globally said that the long-term nature of retirement savings makes investing in private assets a sound strategy. 

Overall, 92 per cent plan to increase (50 per cent) or maintain (42 per cent) of their private credit offering and similarly 91 per cent plan to increase (50 per cent) or maintain (41 per cent) private equity investments on their platforms. Few among those surveyed see that changing, as 63 per cent said there is still a significant delta in returns between private and public markets. Additionally, 69 per cent said that despite high valuations, they think private assets are good value for the long term. 

Natixis IM surveyed 520 fund selectors in 20 countries throughout North America, Latin America, the UK, continental Europe and Asia that manage $25.2 trillion assets. The survey was conducted by CoreData Research in December 2024 and January 2025. 

US-based global private markets investment firm Hamilton Lane has also just published an online survey on the outlook for private market allocations, covering private wealth firms, RIAs, family offices and other advisor professionals from APAC, Canada, EMEA, Latin America, and the US.  It shows that private market allocations are rapidly becoming a significant portion of advisors’ book of business in 2025. Advisors plan to allocate more to private markets, with 56 per cent saying that they will increase overall allocations in 2025, the Hamilton Lane survey reveals.