EY Luxembourg has issued the of its study on digitalisation in the asset servicing industry, the result of a survey of 48 asset servicing industry players in Luxembourg between December 2024 and March 2025. Most represented companies with a professionals of the financial sector (PSF) licence or banking licence, whilst a small number were alternative investment fund managers or management companies (mancos).
“This report marks a significant milestone, being the third instalment in our ongoing analysis,” commented , EY Luxembourg technology consulting partner, digital emerging technologies and data solutions leader. “Each year, we expand our respondent pool, gaining richer and deeper insights into the asset servicing industry’s digital maturity.”
Asset servicers are increasingly using cloud-based platforms, artificial intelligence and automation tools to streamline operations, improve client services and ensure regulatory compliance, said the firm, with generative AI and blockchain technology becoming more prevalent. But many firms have yet to mature in their digital investments.
, EY Luxembourg partner, asset servicing leader, added, “We commend the efforts of asset servicers advancing their digitalisation, and it’s great to see several players reaping tangible rewards. Whilst the industry has more ground to cover, the pace of technological advancement ensures continuous progress.”
Here are five key figures from the report.
33%
Only one-third (33%) of survey respondents said their digital initiatives were fully funded, a drop compared to the 52% seen in 2024. Roughly half (49%) reported that their digital initiatives were partially funded (up from 40% in 2024).
63%
Nearly two-thirds (63%) said that 0-10% of revenue had been allocated to digital initiatives by their company. That’s lower than the year before (83%). Fourteen percent of respondents said that more than 20% of revenue had been allocated to digital initiatives, up from 9% in 2024.
“Underinvestment in digitalisation may optimise existing processes but fail to create fundamental shifts required for true business model evolution,” said the report.
48%
Just 48% of respondents launched digital products and services, found the 2025 study, a decline of 22 percentage points compared to the 2024 study (when that figure stood at 70%). “This suggests that asset servicers may be facing execution challenges, potentially due to resource constraints, competing priorities or a reassessment of digital product viability,” said the report.
79%
Seventy-nine percent of asset servicers--up from 61% the previous year--have identified manual workflows and the absence of standardisation as their main operational hurdle, said the report. Only 21% report most or all processes being digitalised (a decrease from 41% in 2024), whilst 41% said only a few processes are automated.
The inability to identify bottlenecks has become more of an issue, with 38% of respondents citing this as an obstacle in 2025 compared to 13% in 2024.
30%
Thirty percent of the survey respondents said digitalised initiatives are delivered in collaboration with partners, such as fintechs or technology platform providers. That’s up from 22% the year before. On the other hand, this year’s survey found that 40% of asset servicers’ digitalised initiatives are mainly delivered in-house by centralised digital teams, a decrease from the 57% figure seen in 2024.