Asset Managers Reported Tech and Cybersecurity Risks
Financial firms face increased operational pressures that could affect how they manage your retirement and savings accounts.
Updated on Oct. 9, 2026 in Investing
Live Poll
Do you trust that financial institutions in your area effectively protect your personal data from cyberattacks?
A global survey of 250 senior asset management executives revealed that technology and cybersecurity are the top concerns for the year ahead. These findings highlight mounting operational challenges at the firms that oversee household investment portfolios.
Why it matters
As firms grapple with fragmented systems and process failures, these operational risks may translate into market, credit, and liquidity exposures for individual investors. Understanding these trends helps households assess the stability of the institutions managing their long-term wealth.
A total of 62 percent of surveyed asset managers ranked technology and cybersecurity as their primary concern. This follows broader reporting where 80 percent of firms noted increased market risk and 77 percent reported higher credit risk over the last year.
The players
Clearwater Analytics
An investment management software firm that commissioned this industry research.
Pureprofile
A research company that conducted the global asset management survey.
The details
Asset managers are currently managing risks by expanding hedging activities and increasing allocations to alternative assets. Many firms rely on fragmented legacy systems and manual reconciliations, which creates bottlenecks and potential for human error. These inefficiencies, coupled with concerns over business continuity and people-related failures, drive the industry's push toward updated reporting and infrastructure.
Timeline
The survey was conducted by Pureprofile in April and May 2026.
The COO Roundtable was held in Copenhagen on October 8, 2026.
Money Landscape
Institutional risk management has shifted from a focus strictly on market fluctuations to a broader set of operational and technological vulnerabilities. This development reflects a growing awareness that systemic infrastructure, rather than just market timing, is critical to fund stability.
Investors should review their portfolio statements for exposure to funds that rely on manual or high-risk operational processes. Consider speaking with a financial professional about how your firm identifies and mitigates the cybersecurity risks that may affect your account stability.
The takeaway
The primary insight is that technological and operational fragility is now viewed as a central risk by the managers of global assets. Households should periodically review the operational disclosures in their fund prospectuses to understand how these firms handle data security and business continuity.
Further reading
To learn how institutional decisions shape your market exposure, visit our Investing section.
Live Poll
Do you trust that financial institutions in your area effectively protect your personal data from cyberattacks?
