Harnessing momentum in wealth: A view from SEI’s Chief Product Officer.

As we kick off 2026, I find myself returning to a single thought: Change is happening, and change is happening fast. 

Stepping into my new role, I’ve reflected on potential trends, the major challenges the industry may face this year, and my approach to helping SEI’s clients adapt.

AI success will hinge on data hygiene 

AI models and agentic tooling will keep improving, but the firms that thrive this year won’t be those that “buy an AI tool.” They’ll be the ones that fix the plumbing: normalizing data, reducing duplication, and integrating systems. 

Shifting investor priorities reinforce that point. Continued demand for proactive tax strategies, flexible investment products (including semi‑liquid alternatives), and greater account‑level customization all depend on clean, well-integrated data. 

Bracing for the breaking point 

With alternatives entering wealth and retirement channels and more investors expecting real-time experiences, activity is rising. Firms are balancing higher transaction counts, more frequent updates, and smaller ticket sizes. The growing burden on operations and people will test the industry’s absorption limit this year. 

Beyond volume, 2026 is expected to bring inherited tech sprawl and a lack of standardization to the forefront. Many organizations are running portfolios of aging systems that don’t talk to each other. The result is brittle workflows and inconsistent data—precisely what undermines AI ambitions and slows down modernization efforts. 

Reducing complexity is key

Organizations can meet this moment with integrated technology, standardized data architecture, and scalable operational support that reduce complexity. Whether you’re combining aging systems into a single infrastructure, creating a trusted data foundation for analytics and AI, or simplifying the growing demands of alternative investments, an external expert can bring the focus and clarity needed to move forward with confidence.

Our 2026 product playbook 

• Product and tech under one roof. We’ve aligned product and technology under one enterprise function in the office of the CTO. This shift will allow us to examine our full product portfolio horizontally, closing gaps and reducing overlap across products, and directing resources to the initiatives that provide the greatest value to our clients. We’re aiming to move from a functional delivery organization to a client-experience organization. And we’re reimagining all of this on a single platform with an eye toward solving real client problems in the market.
• Modernization of service experience. Through greater visibility, faster issue identification, and more efficient resolution, we want to provide support experiences designed to keep clients focused on running their business while SEI supports what they value most. 
• Deeper integrations and automations. We’re focusing on the connective tissue—API‑first services, standard schemas, and event‑driven workflows. This will eliminate manual steps across onboarding, subscriptions, trading, and servicing. Using our own technology or solutions from key strategic partners, the goal is greater throughput and fewer exceptions as volume increases.
• Expanded capabilities for household-level planning. Anyone who manages wealth wants to orchestrate across accounts, registrations, and tax lots with a holistic view. We’re investing in data models and services that let planning, trading, and reporting work from the same normalized, household‑aware foundation. 
• Transparency and accountability you can see. Clear roadmaps and dashboards will show what we’re building, why it matters, and how it will be delivered. This gives our clients line of sight into priorities and enables smarter capital allocation. 

Solutions, straight from the source 

Over the past few years, we’ve invested in our foundation—data standards, platform consolidation, and process modernization. That work set the stage for 2026, where speed, efficiency, and scale will separate platforms from tools. We’ll keep listening to the market. We’ll meet with clients to understand problems firsthand and continue to co‑create solutions that deliver value and growth. 

This is a year to simplify, standardize, and scale. By taming tech sprawl, getting the data right, and focusing on client and user experience, we can turn constant change into a competitive advantage—for financial institutions, intermediaries, and the investors they serve.