April 21, 2026 – The financial industry is experiencing a technological golden age, but complexity is growing faster than results. Marciano (Objectway): “Innovation alone is not enough. It's no longer the turning point. Scalability is the turning point.”
The financial industry is experiencing what, at least at first glance, appears to be a technological golden age . From the cloud to "model-as-a-service," data has become a strategic resource for companies in the sector. "Opportunities for innovation are everywhere, and the potential growth seems limitless," said Luigi Marciano, founder and CEO of the Objectway Group, at Owin26 , the annual international event dedicated to the financial sector's customer and stakeholder community, scheduled for April 14 and 15 in Sorrento. Yet, behind this momentum, an increasingly evident paradox emerges : "Industry leaders share the same concern: complexity is growing faster than results, and margins remain under pressure. This is because institutions must contend with a continuous increase in systems, regulatory constraints, and increasingly complex expectations."
Innovate without increasing complexity
In this scenario, for wealth and asset management operators, innovation alone is not enough. "It is no longer the turning point," Marciano insists. "The turning point is scalability : growing faster without increasing complexity, maintaining efficiency and innovating in a sustainable, repeatable and profitable way." Lasting success therefore depends on structured collaboration , a solid foundation and interconnected capabilities , rather than isolated innovation efforts. "We need an ecosystem in which innovation can thrive. This is where Objectway plays a central role: we integrate an end-to-end platform with a solution design model that helps companies build the foundations of their ecosystem, orchestrating it and adapting it to different operating models," says the CEO.
A survey of 300 senior executives in the financial services industry conducted by FT Longitude in collaboration with Objectway also explores what it means to achieve profitable scale today. "Scaling leaders—organizations that have made the greatest progress in both core operations and processes, as well as in customer services and onboarding—are much more likely to generate tangible returns from innovation ," explains Hannah Freegard, deputy editorial director of FT Longitude . Investments in these cases produce more robust results than those of so-called "followers," those lagging behind: leaders are more likely to achieve profitability increases of more than 15%.
The main obstacles to scalability
According to the expert, a true virtuous circle is triggered: "Once the scaling journey begins, profitability tends to increase over time," says Freegard. From fully digital self-service channels to onboarding to online account opening, leaders are able to introduce new features for customers at a significantly faster pace . Scaling obstacles are not lacking, but even here, the gap between leaders and laggards is clear. Thirty-nine percent of the overall sample cited onboarding as the main challenge, followed by costs and front office complexity (37%). "Among leaders, however, this factor is cited much less frequently as a key obstacle."
Focus on data quality and AI
Over the next two years, according to the analysis, leaders will increasingly focus on data quality (54%) and artificial intelligence (56%). "Followers," on the other hand, remain focused on reducing manual effort (42%) and—when they do outsource—do so primarily to relieve pressure in the short term. "This isn't a strategic approach," Freegard concludes. "Leading companies don't outsource indiscriminately : they engage select partners in key operational functions, with the goal of increasing profitability. Ultimately, it all comes back to AI. But even AI contributes to scale only if there's a solid foundation in terms of data analysis and control. It's a higher level of sophistication."
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