Q2 2026 Funds, Trust and Corporate Services update: Regulatory complexities and the evolving AI landscape is continuing to drive M&A activity in FTCS
M&A activity across the Fund, Trust and Corporate Services (FTCS) sector remained resilient in Q2 2026, with 36 transactions completed, making it the third consecutive quarter to exceed the long-term average. Strategic buyers and private equity investors continue to pursue both large-cap consolidation opportunities and mid-market platform investments, underlining the sector's attractiveness.
Technology remains the defining theme dominating board rooms but also playing an important role in shaping investor appetite. The AI landscape is evolving at pace, but conversations are beginning to shift beyond AI-assisted workflows towards agentic AI, as businesses increasingly explore autonomous solutions to improve efficiency. Companies with proprietary technology, robust data infrastructure and the flexibility to adapt as AI capabilities improve will be most competitive and gain most interest from investors.
Regulatory complexity continues to create opportunities for specialist providers. The implementation of AIFMD II and the establishment of the EU's anti-money laundering authority are increasing regulatory burden, particularly for firms active in several jurisdictions. This is reinforcing demand for outsourced fund administration, governance and compliance expertise.
Another shift across the broader funds and private wealth markets is increasing retail involvement in private markets. Fund managers are increasingly using semi-liquid structures to open up private assets to new retail investors increasing AuM globally. Meanwhile, tokenisation has moved beyond experimentation into live institutional deployment, prompting established providers to acquire specialist digital asset and on-chain servicing capabilities rather than build them organically.
Given ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, investors are focused on resilient businesses with diversified revenues, international reach and high-quality recurring income. Fund, Trust and Corporate Services continues to represent a particularly attractive consolidation opportunity, remaining more fragmented than other areas of the market and offering significant scope for platform expansion.
Looking ahead, M&A momentum is expected to remain strong and companies that can demonstrate strong organic growth, are diversified geographically and across services lines with a clear technology roadmap and strategy are likely to attract premium valuations.
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