Thursday 17th September | The Grand Schweizerhof Zürich | 8:30am to 10:30am
Join a select group of Chief Operating Officers, Heads of Operations and Heads of Transformation for a private breakfast briefing at The Grand Schweizerhof Zürich, focused on the transformation agenda facing European asset managers in 2026.
This closed-door discussion is designed for senior leaders responsible for delivering meaningful change across asset management organisations. The session will be peer-led, practical and held under Chatham House Rule, creating space for open discussion between people facing similar operational and transformation challenges.
8:30am – Arrival, breakfast and networking
9:00am – Opening remarks
Welcome, framing of the morning, Chatham House Rule and introduction to the key questions for discussion.
9:10am – Roundtable discussions
The main discussion will be structured around three practical areas shaping the transformation agenda for asset management leaders today.
Transformation has become a board-level priority across asset management, but the definition, ownership and sequencing of change remain highly complex. This discussion will explore what transformation really means for operational leaders, and where the pressure to change is coming from.
• What does “transformation” actually mean for a COO, CDO, Head of Operations or Head of Transformation in 2026?
• How are firms sequencing change when operating model, technology, talent and regulation are all moving at once?
• Where is the real pressure coming from: the board, the regulator, the front office, clients or the cost base?
Many firms can prove an idea works in principle. The harder challenge is turning a pilot into an industrialised capability that is adopted, governed and scaled across the business.
• What holds progress back between a working pilot and a production-ready capability?
• Who owns the decision to scale, and where does organisational resistance usually appear?
• In the production phase, where should firms build internally and where should they partner?
As transformation programmes become more complex and multi-year, senior leaders are under increasing pressure to prove measurable value, not just activity or rollout.
• What does a credible ROI narrative look like across a multi-year transformation programme?
• How are firms measuring adoption, productivity and client outcomes, not just implementation milestones?
• What have firms stopped measuring because it was telling the wrong story?
10:20am – Closing reflections
10:30am – Breakfast concludes
