Five trends that will define the next decade and how Utmost is preparing for them
By Mark Fairbairn, Head of Strategy and Corporate Affairs in Utmost
The international wealth planning market has always evolved in response to changing client needs. What feels different today is the speed, scale and convergence of that change.Wealth is growing and becoming more international. Family structures are becoming more complex. High-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), internationally mobile families and expatriate clients increasingly require cross-border wealth planning solutions that can support tax-efficient wealth structuring, international succession planning and long-term wealth preservation. Clients want access to a broader range of investments, increasingly including private assets, and expect a faster, more personalised service.
At the same time, advisers and providers must respond to significant regulatory and technological developments.
Much has been written about these trends. Most firms can describe the forces reshaping our industry. However, I believe the more important question is how firms are adapting in response.
How are they anticipating what clients and advisers will require in five, ten or twenty years? Where are they investing today? How easily can their products, technology, people and operating models move and flex as market demands evolve?
At Utmost, these are not theoretical questions. They influence decisions we make about our markets, propositions, technology, specialist capabilities and wider operating platform. They are conversations we have every day with advisers and partners across our markets.
Recent research conducted by NMG Consulting for Utmost found that adviser sentiment towards international wealth insurance remains strongly positive, with market sales forecast to reach £87 billion by 2030.
More importantly, the research highlighted increasing client demand for solutions that can support international lifestyles, succession planning, investment flexibility and long-term wealth preservation. This is particularly evident among clients with connections to markets such as the UK, Portugal, France, Spain, Switzerland, the UAE and Latin America, where advisers increasingly require flexible international wealth planning solutions capable of adapting to changing tax, residency and succession requirements.
In 2025, we completed the integration and rebrand of Lombard International and announced the intended sale of Utmost Life and Pensions. These decisions sharpened our strategic focus and strengthened our position as the leading specialist global provider of insurance-based wealth solutions.
The result is a more focused international wealth business with the scale, reach and expertise to respond to this changing market. Utmost delivered £9.7 billion of inflows in 2025, an increase of 43% on the previous year, with six of our seven sales regions delivering double-digit growth.
As we look to the future, five trends will have the greatest influence on the future of international wealth planning from my perspective.
1. Wealth transfer will reshape client relationships
The largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history is underway.
Cerulli Associates estimates that US$124 trillion will transfer through 2048, with US$105 trillion expected to pass to heirs and US$18 trillion to charitable organisations.
The figures are significant, but I do not see this simply as a transfer of assets. It is also a transfer of relationships, responsibilities and expectations.
The next generation may approach wealth differently. They are often more internationally mobile, more digitally connected and more focused on flexibility with purpose. Providers cannot assume that an approach designed for one generation will remain relevant to the next.
For advisers, this makes it increasingly important to engage the wider family. Wealth transfer planning and international succession planning must consider family governance with beneficiaries in different jurisdictions and the changing circumstances of the people who will ultimately inherit and manage the assets. Inheritance tax planning and estate planning considerations are also becoming increasingly important as family wealth moves across borders and generations.
At Utmost, our response is to build solutions for the lifetime of the wealth, not simply the lifetime of the original policyholder. Our structures are designed to support wealth preservation and succession planning while retaining the flexibility to respond as families evolve.
This also requires specialist expertise. The provider must do more than issue a policy. It must have the technical depth to help advisers create arrangements that remain robust over decades.
Our recent research with NMG Consulting identified generational wealth transfer as one of the most significant long-term drivers of international wealth insurance demand. Advisers increasingly view succession planning as a core component of client conversations and are looking for solutions that can adapt as wealth moves between generations. This aligns closely with what we are seeing across our business, where wealth preservation and wealth transfer are becoming increasingly interconnected.
2. Global wealth requires structures that can move and flex
According to the UBS Global Wealth Report 2025, global personal wealth grew by 4.6% in 2024, following growth of 4.2% in 2023.
Behind the headline figure is a more fundamental change. Affluent individuals and families increasingly have assets, business interests, property and family connections spread across several countries. They may accumulate wealth in one market, live in another and eventually retire somewhere else. Their children and beneficiaries may be located in multiple jurisdictions.
True simplicity is becoming rare. Almost every significant case we see at Utmost now carries some element of complexity, whether that comes from relocation, multiple tax residencies, international assets, trust arrangements or beneficiaries living abroad.
This trend is particularly evident in expatriate wealth planning, where clients may be navigating multiple tax regimes, cross-border assets, international beneficiaries and changing residency positions over time.
This demands more from wealth planning solutions. A structure that works for the client today must be capable of responding when that client moves country, changes custodian, restructures family arrangements or revises succession plans.
At Utmost, we have spent many years building for this reality. Our international footprint and multi-jurisdictional model give advisers access to established wealth planning centres supported by local expertise, regulatory knowledge and consistent Group standards. This enables advisers to support clients across key international markets including Europe, the Middle East and Latin America through a consistent cross-border wealth planning framework.
I believe portability and adaptability will become increasingly important tests of a provider. Long-term products may remain in place for 15, 20 or even 30 years. A provider therefore needs the investment capacity and commitment to continue supporting and futureproofing clients as circumstances change. Investment in systems, people and processes is not optional. It is fundamental to meeting that responsibility.
3. Private markets are moving into mainstream wealth planning
Private markets investing is becoming an increasingly important part of sophisticated client portfolios.
Preqin’s Private Markets in 2030 Report forecasts that global alternative assets under management will reach US$32 trillion by 2030. Private credit alone is projected to approach US$4.5 trillion, while infrastructure assets are expected to approach US$3 trillion.
Greater access creates significant investment opportunities, but it also creates greater responsibility.
Private and complex assets require expertise in a number of areas across eligibility, custody, subscription processes, valuation, liquidity management and regulatory reporting. Advisers and clients need confidence that the provider has the infrastructure and governance to administer these assets throughout their lifecycle.
In my view, provider selection in this area is increasingly a risk management decision. It cannot be based solely on whether an asset can be accepted. The more important question is whether it can be administered and governed successfully over the long term.
Utmost recognised this trend early. Complex assets management has become a core part of our international proposition. Today, more than 22 specialists support this capability and we administer over €13 billion in net tangible assets held within policies valued at approximately €30 billion. These assets include a broad range of private equity, private credit, infrastructure, specialist funds, real estate and other alternative investments.
We continue to invest in the systems and governance infrastructure required to support this market.
Many providers talk about the growth of private assets. The real differentiator is whether they have built the capability required to support that growth safely, consistently and at scale.
4. Regulation must shape strategy, not follow it
The regulatory landscape continues to evolve rapidly.
Across our markets we are seeing significant developments relating to operational resilience, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, consumer protection and cross-border distribution. Frameworks such as DORA and the EU AI Act are only the latest examples.
Regulation is often viewed as a challenge. I see it differently – as a differentiator for Utmost.
Clients and advisers increasingly value providers that demonstrate strong governance, financial resilience and long-term commitment to their markets. In that environment, the ability to manage regulatory change becomes a competitive advantage.
The key is to anticipate regulatory developments rather than react to them. That means conducting horizon scanning, investing in expertise and considering how future requirements could affect products, technology, distribution and client service.
Utmost operates across numerous regulated jurisdictions and maintains active engagement with regulators, industry bodies and market developments. Our businesses undertake proactive horizon scanning and use structured governance frameworks to manage material regulatory and legislative change.
Financial strength is an important part of this equation, but it must be considered alongside strategic intent.
A provider needs both the resources to invest and a clear commitment to remain relevant to its chosen market over the long term. That combination becomes particularly important when the client relationship may extend across several decades.
5. Technology and AI must create meaningful value
Artificial intelligence is moving rapidly from experimentation to practical implementation.
According to EY’s GenAI in Wealth and Asset Management Survey 2025, 95% of firms are now deploying multiple AI use cases and almost all expect to expand their activity further over the coming years.
However, one statistic stands out. Only a minority of firms report that AI has already created substantial business impact.
That distinction matters.
Many businesses can launch a pilot programme or introduce a new tool. The more difficult task is integrating technology into a trusted operating model and ensuring it genuinely improves outcomes for clients and advisers.
I believe the greatest impact of technology will be on the user experience.
Clients will expect simpler onboarding, better digital servicing, faster access to information and more personalised interactions. Advisers will expect providers to make technical knowledge easier to access and routine administration easier to complete, freeing up human capacity for higher-value tasks.
At Utmost, digital transformation remains a strategic priority. We continue to invest in online service centres, digital onboarding and technologies that improve access and efficiency. We are also exploring how AI can support access to technical, product and wealth planning information while maintaining the governance, privacy and security standards expected of a leading international wealth solutions provider.
I do not believe technology will replace the adviser relationship. International wealth planning involves judgement, trust and a deep understanding of the client that cannot be replicated by technology alone. The opportunity is to use technology to support those relationships and enable advisers to spend more time where their expertise creates the greatest value.
Anticipating change, not simply describing it
None of these trends are entirely new. What is different now though is the pace at which they are accelerating and the way they are converging.
Many firms will talk about these trends. Fewer will explain how they are adapting their businesses in response. Fewer still will make the sustained investments needed to ensure their propositions, technology and operating models can move and flex as the market develops.
At Utmost, our focus is not simply on identifying where international wealth planning is heading. It is on building the capabilities advisers and clients will need when they get there.
That means investing in our international platform and multi-jurisdictional proposition. It means developing specialist capabilities in complex assets and multi-generational planning. It means improving digital servicing and exploring AI responsibly. It also means maintaining strong governance, financial resilience and close relationships with our distribution partners.
The findings from NMG’s adviser research vindicate our laser focus on these areas.
Advisers increasingly favour providers that combine scale, technical expertise and long-established relationships. The research found that Utmost holds an 18% market share and the highest proportion of lead partner relationships in the international wealth insurance market. It also highlighted that the ten largest providers now account for 59% of market flows, reflecting a growing preference among advisers to partner with firms that have the operational capability, specialist expertise and financial strength required to support increasingly complex client needs.
I believe this reflects a broader shift in our industry. Advisers are not simply selecting products. They are selecting long-term strategic partners that can help them navigate complexity, anticipate change and support clients through decades of wealth creation, preservation and transfer.
For me, preparedness is not about predicting every development correctly. No firm can do that. It is about building an organisation with the resources, expertise and flexibility to respond when circumstances change.
The future of international wealth planning will belong to businesses that can combine scale with agility, technology with human expertise and innovation with disciplined governance. Most importantly, it will belong to those prepared not merely to recognise change but to act on it.
