European asset managers tumble as AI disruption jitters spread

Wed, 11th Feb 2026 14:47

MILAN/LONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Shares of European money managers fell sharply on Wednesday following a steep selloff in U.S. rivals ‌a day earlier, as they became the latest firms swept up in investor concerns that artificial intelligence will upend established businesses.

Investors have ⁠become increasingly anxious that AI-first startups will be able to automate ⁠complex tasks currently carried out by humans and undermine existing business models.

Shares in some of Europe's biggest asset managers, including Amundi, DWS Group and Schroders fell as much as 2% to 4% earlier in the day and were last down 1% to 2% on the day. The biggest declines were seen ‌at wealth managers, with Britain's St James's Place dropping 12.2%, while Quilter shed 4.4% and Rathbones fell 2.7%.

The downturn in Europe came after shares in U.S. brokerages tumbled on Tuesday, with analysts attributing the moves to wealth management startup Altruist's introduction of AI-enabled tax planning.

U.S. asset manager stocks were fairly stable in pre-market trading on Wednesday.

"We expect this to reignite the 'man vs machine' debate in delivery of financial advice," analysts at RBC said in a note.

The RBC analysts added ‌they felt the selloff in UK wealth managers overlooked the value wealth advisers could bring, noting that the Altruist product appeared to be aimed at helping financial advisers ‌rather than replacing them.

Software companies' shares also suffered a sharp selloff earlier this month on similar investor concerns about the impact of new AI products.

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An index of European financial services shares was last down 1.6%.

Italian asset managers' shares were also heavily hit, with Banca Mediolanum and Azimut down 6% and 4%, respectively. Other big decliners ‌on Wednesday included Banca Generali which shed 7%, FinecoBank dropped 8%, as well as online trading platform Swissquote which fell 5% .

Gerry Fowler, head of European equity strategy and global derivatives strategy at UBS, said that users of new AI technologies look ⁠set to ⁠benefit from productivity gains. But providers of services capable of being replaced by ‌large language models could be in "real trouble".

"Basically, the advice part of any market is going to be more easily disrupted than the process and transactions part of any particular market," he said.

"I know people are starting to question whether banks are next, but ‌the difference is, as much as banks provide some services, the bulk of the value that banks provide is actually transactions and processes," he said. (Reporting by Danilo Masoni in Milan and Iain Withers in London, additional reporting by Romolo Tosiani, Giancarlo Navach, Enrico Sciacovelli; Editing by Amanda Cooper, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Joe Bavier)