London Investment Funds Forum 2026 – Key Takeaways
On 17 September 2026, we were delighted to once again welcome leading investment funds professionals to our annual Maples Insights London Investment Funds Forum at the National Gallery in London. The event brought together industry leaders, investors and advisers to discuss the opportunities and challenges shaping the global investment management sector.
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We were joined by a distinguished group of guest speakers to this year’s forum. Our keynote speaker, Louis Theroux, shared his perspectives on leadership, communication and navigating complex issues, while The Honourable André M Ebanks MP, Premier of the Cayman Islands and Minister for Financial Services and Commerce, joined us for a special guest session on the evolving global financial services landscape. In addition, Salik Ahmed from Preqin provided valuable insights into the latest private markets trends and analysis, setting the scene for the discussions that followed throughout the day.
Our panellists explored some of the most significant developments affecting the investment funds industry, including the continued growth of private credit, the evolution of open-ended fund structures, the opportunities presented by tokenisation and digital assets, and the forces driving consolidation across the asset management sector. Discussions also touched on the increasing role of artificial intelligence, changing investor expectations and the growing operational and regulatory demands facing market participants.
The following is a summary of some of the key themes and discussion points from the day. If you have any questions on the topics raised or would like to continue the conversation in more depth, please do not hesitate to reach out to your usual Maples Group contact.
Key Themes at a Glance
- Private credit matures: Now viewed as a core institutional allocation, with asset-backed lending, insurance capital convergence and a growing European opportunity driving the next phase of growth.
- Open-ended fund structures evolve: Managers are developing longer-duration share classes and new fund formats to better align liquidity terms with underlying assets.
- Regulatory and operational requirements evolve: Compressed reporting timelines, heightened scrutiny and differing regulatory requirements are encouraging firms to review their operating models and infrastructure, alongside calls for greater harmonisation across Europe.
- AI shifts from pilot to production: Deployment is now live across legal, compliance, operations and investment teams, with governance and data security taking centre stage.
- Tokenisation broadens market access: Digital asset infrastructure is opening traditionally inaccessible asset classes to a wider investor base, though practical utility must lead.
- Consolidation reshapes European asset management: Scale, distribution reach and regulatory efficiency continue to drive cross-border M&A, with Luxembourg and Ireland as key platforms.
Private Credit Enters a New Phase
- Private credit is increasingly viewed as a core allocation within institutional portfolios rather than a niche strategy.
- As the market matures, attention is shifting from growth alone to resilience, transparency and risk management.
- Panellists considered whether private credit has helped stabilise the credit cycle and examined the systemic risk concerns that have emerged as the asset class has expanded.
- Asset-backed private credit is experiencing significant growth, with opportunities spanning mid-market corporate loans, equipment finance, data-centre leasing and royalties.
- The convergence between private credit and insurance continues to accelerate, with managers increasingly tapping insurance balance sheets for permanent or near-permanent capital, reshaping how portfolios are built and managed.
- Europe continues to present a significant opportunity for future growth, supported by the Capital Markets Union agenda and increasing demand for alternative sources of financing.
- The development of a more active secondary market for private credit interests could improve liquidity and portfolio management flexibility.
Open-Ended Funds Continue to Evolve
- Credit, CLOs, commodities and other alternative asset classes continue to attract interest as managers seek to diversify product offerings and create differentiated investment strategies.
- New fund structures and longer-duration share classes are being developed to better align liquidity terms with underlying assets.
- Interest in illiquid investment trusts is growing alongside traditional liquid fund structures, reflecting investor appetite for exposure to less liquid asset classes.
- While separately managed accounts remain attractive for large investors particularly seeking additional asset class diversification, commingled fund structures continue to be viewed as providing more stable, long-term capital.
Operational and Regulatory Demands Continue to Increase
- Panellists highlighted the importance of greater harmonisation of regulatory requirements across Europe, which could reduce the complexity created by differing national regimes, make it easier to do business across borders and help encourage greater investment in Europe. The more consistent approach adopted in the US was referenced as a useful comparison.
- Firms are dealing with significantly shorter reporting timelines, in some cases as little as six hours for incident reporting, alongside increasing expectations around operational resilience and heightened scrutiny from both regulators and investors, including large institutional allocators such as Australian superannuation funds.
- Panellists also discussed the resilience of market infrastructure, including the reliance on banks, prime brokers and liquidity providers during periods of market stress.
- Many organisations are exploring alternative operating models and infrastructure solutions to improve resilience and reduce concentration risk.
- Decisions on expanding firms’ international footprints are increasingly driven by access to talent rather than fundraising requirements.
- Singapore, Hong Kong and Milan remain important strategic locations, while firms continue to evaluate their global locations as regulatory and tax considerations evolve.
Artificial Intelligence Moves from Experimentation to Implementation
- AI is now being deployed across legal, compliance, operations, finance, human resources and investment teams.
- Common use cases include contract review, document analysis, workflow automation and operational efficiency initiatives.
- The discussion has shifted from whether firms should adopt AI to how it should be governed.
- Data security, staff training, investor disclosure and robust governance frameworks remain critical areas of focus.
- From a practical perspective, legal-specific AI platforms do not yet appear to offer significant incremental gains over more generic tools, suggesting that firms should evaluate options carefully before committing to specialised solutions.
- AI infrastructure is also emerging as an important investment theme, with opportunities linked to data centres, digital infrastructure and financing requirements.
Technology, Tokenisation and New Avenues of Capital
- Tokenisation has been a key focus for our clients globally during 2026 and we expect this to accelerate in 2027, as firms explore new ways of improving investor access, and creating efficiencies, in both public and private markets.
- Technology platforms are helping to expand participation in traditionally inaccessible asset classes.
- With companies now staying private for an average of 11 years before reaching IPO, most investors have historically been locked out of significant value creation, a dynamic that tokenisation and technology platforms are beginning to address.
- Panellists emphasised the importance of focusing on practical utility rather than innovation for its own sake.
- AI-powered asset allocation and agentic AI are expected to play an increasingly visible role in the investment process.
- Investor education will remain critical as access to private markets becomes easier and more widely available.
Scale, Distribution and Industry Consolidation
- Consolidation continues to reshape the European asset management landscape.
- Key drivers include access to global distribution networks, operational efficiencies, regulatory simplification and access to expertise, strategies, geographical areas and/or certain groups of investors.
- In certain markets, growth in private assets investment has been driven by expansion supported by banking groups’ distribution networks.
- Cross-border mergers are often viewed as more efficient than maintaining multiple legal entities across jurisdictions but internal reorganizations are also a viable strategy.
- Successful integration remains challenging, with cultural alignment, compliance frameworks and distribution capabilities frequently cited as important considerations.
- Luxembourg and Ireland continue to serve as key consolidation platforms for firms rationalising their European operating structures.
Looking Ahead
The discussions throughout the Forum reflected an investment funds industry continuing to adapt to significant structural, technological and regulatory change. Private credit is expected to become an increasingly established component of institutional portfolios, while open-ended fund managers continue to diversify their product offerings and develop structures that better align investor liquidity with underlying assets.
Technology will remain central to this evolution. Tokenisation and digital asset infrastructure have the potential to broaden access to public and private markets, although their long-term success will depend on delivering practical benefits and ensuring that investors understand the associated risks. At the same time, artificial intelligence is moving from experimentation to implementation, creating opportunities to improve operational efficiency while also generating new investment demand across data centres and other digital infrastructure.
Consolidation is also likely to remain a defining feature of the European asset management landscape as firms seek greater scale, broader distribution capabilities and more efficient operating structures. However, successful integration will require careful management of cultural, regulatory and operational differences across jurisdictions.
Across all of these areas, governance and operational resilience will be critical. As markets, products and technologies become more complex, managers will need increasingly sophisticated frameworks to manage risk, meet regulatory expectations and maintain investor confidence. The firms best placed to succeed will be those able to embrace innovation while maintaining a clear focus on transparency, resilience and practical investor outcomes.
At Maples, we are committed to helping our clients navigate this evolving landscape. Whether you are structuring a new fund, evaluating emerging technologies, managing regulatory change or pursuing strategic transactions, our global team of investment funds specialists is here to support you.
To discuss any of the themes raised in this Forum or to explore how we can assist with your specific objectives, please contact your usual Maples Group representative or reach out to any member of our Investment Funds team.
