The next phase of Al in investment management is defined by foundation, not ambition.
There is a moment that arrives for every investment management firm that has bet on Al. The budgets have been approved, the tools deployed, the announcements made. And then a harder question surfaces, one few anticipated: Why is this working for some firms and not others?
The 2026 Clearwater GenAl survey puts that question directly to 178 global senior leaders: CFOS, CEOS, CIOS, CROS, and CTOs across insurance asset management, general asset management, hedge funds, and private credit managers. These are not observers. They are firms already deep inside the experiment, watching the results land in real time. What they told us arguably carries more weight than any technology forecast.
