REQUEST A COPY

Wealth Executive Forum Annual Report 2026

What senior trust and wealth executives told us about compensation pressure, AI governance gaps, succession risk, and the industry’s growing appetite for acquisition growth.

Please complete the form below to request your copy of the report. Thank you.





    Each year, the Wealth Executive Forum brings together senior trust and wealth executives from community and regional financial institutions to compare honest notes on what is actually happening inside their departments. The 2026 Annual Report compiles survey findings and practitioner presentations from this year’s Forum into a single data-driven resource for trust and wealth professionals.

    This is the second year of year-over-year comparison, and the trends are beginning to tell a coherent story. Compensation bands have not moved in two years. AI adoption is outpacing policy development. Trust accounting system dissatisfaction is quietly rising. And for the first time, more than half of Forum participants expect to grow through acquisition. The 2026 report covers all of it, with context from practitioners who work inside these departments and regulatory frameworks every day.

    What’s Inside the 2026 Report

    • The compensation and revenue gap: 91% of trust executives expect to deliver salary increases of 2.1 to 5%, while 24% are budgeting for revenue growth of 15 to 20% or more in 2027
    • The succession math: 44% of department heads are within five years of retirement, and 49% are growing talent internally with a 3 to 5 year productivity runway
    • AI adoption without governance: 50% report meaningful AI use, yet 56% still have no AI policy in place — and the CSBS supervisory framework just arrived
    • Technology and CRM findings: why 22% of trust departments are dissatisfied with their accounting system, and why 97% have no AI integration connecting CRM to trust accounting
    • Acquisition as a growth strategy: 53% expect to grow through acquisition — a new and material theme not prominent in 2025
    • Financial planning monetization: 69% do not charge for financial planning services, up from 51% in 2025 — and the gap is widening
    • Compliance program frameworks, referral source data, account risk rating, fiduciary loss reserves, benchmarking, and more

    Pohl Consulting and Training has served trust and wealth professionals at community and regional financial institutions for decades. The Wealth Executive Forum is one expression of that work.