What were the top 10 most-read Fund Operator articles in 2025?
Interviews, analysis, news, and more featured in the top 10 most-read articles on Fund Operator this year. Which ones did you miss?
Fund Operator Editor POSTED ON 12/15/2025 9:00:00 AM
@Pixabay.
Was 2025 the year of AI?
The history books may not be written yet, but we can tell you it definitely got our readers clicking.
From whether it was being overused and leading to risk management issues, to its adoption at different speeds in the economy and the sector, to who was using it, why, how, and where, it was all over the news.
Of course, other themes emerged too – the divergence of US and European ESG practices for one (our coverage of NZAM suspending operations after Blackrock departed was our eleventh most read article this year, just missing out)
But what else did we cover? Operational efficiency, holistic decision making, and a whole lot of culture and corporate mindset articles, from everything to D&O insurance being an operational nightmare in the age of supply chain monitoring and corporate social responsibility.
Read on below to see what else was getting visitors to the site clicking this year.
In October, we discussed a report saying that most business leaders think generative AI will augment but not replace existing roles in the workplace.
This was from Gallagher's second annual survey on AI adoption, which looks at AI's growing impact on risk management and people strategies across global businesses.
In “The 2025 Attitudes to AI Adoption and Risk Benchmarking Survey”, business leaders looked at how Generative AI (GenAI) is now a boardroom reality.
In July, reporter Carla Juan-Creix Roselló looked at Morningstar’s paper on ESG fund recovery in Q2, with Europe driving gains and the US still retreating.
“Despite the ESG backlash and the volatility sparked by geopolitical tensions and US tariffs, the picture for ESG funds improved last quarter,” said Hortense Bioy, Head of Sustainable Investing Research at Morningstar Sustainalytics. “European investors have returned to ESG funds, marking a notable reversal from the redemptions seen in the previous quarter.”
Industry experts explain strategies for streamlining holistic decision-making and improving operational efficiency in a highly competitive market.
This topic was covered at Insurance Investor Live | Europe 2025 in September as part of our operations stream in London.
Reporter Carla spoke to several industry experts.
“Having strong organisational controls in place is something that we often see a gap in, across different sizes — from smaller managers right up to some of the larger ones,” said Maria Long, a partner at ORC.
Carla also looked at the FCA’s new conduct rules, which shone a spotlight on fund managers amid accusations of toxic cultures going unchecked. We asked what it would mean for operations teams.
“The industry had already pushed for more on these changes,” said Erin Sims, Financial Services Senior Analyst at RSM UK. “Financial services firms were being told to do more to address workplace behaviours that impacted culture and conduct.”
In November, a report from Morningstar highlighted the 2024 results for active bond and active equities managers across various regions, which showed growth – albeit at a sluggish rate.
The report showed that “passive equity and fixed-income funds still outperform the market compared to their active peers in the long term”. The barometer evaluates active funds against a composite of actual passive funds – not versus a costless index. “In this way, the benchmark reflects the actual, net-of-fee performance of the passive funds available to investors,” said Morningstar.
As part of a report, in April, we broke down Gavin Lau, Managing Director, Head of Private Credit Fund Management, Macquarie Asset Management's views on optimising asset inflow and growth objectives.
Considering the rapid increase in interest in private assets, including residential home loans and private credit, more specifically, as an asset class, we asked how managers can ensure that their teams are optimised to manage asset inflow and growth objectives.
We put this question to several industry experts at a Clear Path Analysis webinar, which formed one of our Fund Operator reports, “Addressing operational challenges around launching a private credit strategy”, sponsored by Arcesium this year.
“When considering going into the market, it is about starting with an inward assessment of the manager’s resources, so, if I put myself in your shoes, am I looking at an in-house solution where I build everything internally, or would I like to start with an outsource model?” he said.
In March, we reported on how the breach of human rights within or by business operations had risen from a niche concern by Directors and Officers in 2021 to a leading area by 2025.
That was the takeaway from Willis – a WTW business, in collaboration with Clyde & Co., in its Directors and Officers Liability Insurance Survey.
In the survey, 62% of responders said they consider human rights breaches to be of very or extremely important concern in 2025, compared to just 23% in 2021.
Back in February, it was revealed that nearly a quarter (23%) of all Article 8 funds remain at risk of greenwashing, said a new report – this is compared to just 3% of Article 9 funds being at risk.
The 2025 ESG and Sustainable Barometer report, by data provider MainStreet Partners, which analyses over 9500 investment strategies managed by more than 460 asset managers, revealed that the proportion of Article 9 funds that have a greenwashing risk has reduced over time.
However, the results showed that for fund operators, there is still a minefield of risk involved with categorisation for funds and that mistakes could be easily made – and easily discovered by regulators.
AI data company Accelex and software platform Carta said that there were growing data challenges in the private capital industry.
We looked at the report, “The Hidden Cost of Growth: Data Challenges for Fund-of-Funds”, which surveyed 100 senior investment professionals across the UK, Europe, and the US.
It established four themes: persistent data issues, operational inefficiencies, mounting fee and investor pressures, and a growing shift toward automation and AI.
According to the study, 92% of surveyed fund-of-funds professionals say unstructured and delayed data from General Partners (GPs) has negatively impacted investment decisions or reporting.
From September this year, ahead of our Insurance Investor Live | Benelux 2025 event in November in Amsterdam, reporter Hannah Maidment took on the task of breaking down one of our key topics at the event.
Namely, cost efficiency, and the rise (and rise and rise) of AI. But there were some surprises too, and behind the headlines, there was a lot more nuance to be found.
For instance, lowering operational costs isn’t always good for avoiding risks, according to Mark Gillan, Head of Investment Operations, Scottish Widows, who spoke with us in the article.
“The more you spend, the more benefit you get long term,” he said. Installing AI can provide benefits to companies in output and processing terms. It can also help in mitigating the risks of error or costs of 'redo' in old technology services, so, for operating costs, it has its benefits.
So, in the end, maybe 2025 was the year of AI after all.
Thank you for reading, and we look forward to seeing you in 2026!
Please Sign In or Register to leave a Comment.
SUBSCRIBE
Get the recent popular stories straight into your inbox
Related Posts
