2026 Investment Management Outlook (Deloitte)

Summary

• Active UCITS ETFs rose from 2.1% of total UCITS ETF flows in 2020 to 6.1% in 2024.p.4
• Active UCITS ETF AUM rose by 80% from €27.2 billion in 2023 to €49 billion in 2024.p.4
• As of July 2025, 40 of the 51 ELTIF launches are registered to be marketed to retail clients.p.7
• Legal & General will commit up to 10% of its new annuity flows to Blackstone funds.p.6
• AI now appears in 2.4% of all US job postings by investment management firms, up from 0.7% in 2022.p.9
• 66% of C-suite and board member respondents say their organizations use AI to boost productivity and efficiency.p.9
• Morgan Stanley's financial advisers show 98% penetration of AI tools.p.10

Key insights

1. Net flows into active UCITS ETFs climbed to 6.1% of total UCITS ETF flows in 2024.p.4
2. Active UCITS ETF AUM reached €49 billion in 2024.p.4
3. Partnerships between asset managers and insurers, such as Legal & General and Blackstone, are expanding access to private credit.p.6
4. Job postings referencing AI rose by almost 25% from 2022 to the first half of 2025.p.9
5. Hedge funds are recovering with steady inflows and several large ones are expanding into private credit.p.5
6. Firms should build AI governance frameworks, ideally led by a chief AI officer, with a human in the loop.p.11