Chapter 1: The backdrop
1. The volume shockwave - when growth outpaces capacity
For the last decade, the asset servicing industry has planned for steady, incremental growth. 2025 has shattered that assumption.
The 25% surge in volume
Asset servicing volumes grew 25% year-on-year in 2025. This is not a gentle incline; it is a fundamental change in operating intensity.
The pressure is not evenly distributed; it is a concentrated spike that is putting immense pressure on specific sectors and regional teams, in particular the investor and APAC segments, where voluntary events are expanding by 40% ‑ 50%.
With volumes up by over 30%, investors are carrying the heaviest growth burden and face the strongest pressure to automate. Their efficiency also depends on custodians, who are contending with their own 23% volume growth. Across the ecosystem, relationships between ‘consumers’ and ‘providers’ are strained as exchanges, technology firms, and brokers all manage volume increases of over 25%. Asset Servicing, as a whole, is an ecosystem under pressure.
Asset Servicing volumes are growing by over 25% - most of all for investors
ll
Asset servicing is inherently volume sensitive. As transaction levels surge, events multiply and, with them, the potential for costly errors and losses."
Mike Wood, Head of Asset Servicing, Broadridge
Asia is the epicentre of this growth with volumes rising twice the rate of other regions with voluntary events up 49%. Yet, it is not a purely Asian story. This surge reflects expanding cross-border investment, as increased Asian holdings in North American securities, often via derivative products, import the complexity of the US corporate actions landscape into Asian time zones and operations teams.
Asian volumes are growing at double the pace of other regions
ll
The survey confirms what Broadridge’s clients are experiencing daily: incremental staffing cannot solve structural workflow inefficiency."
Demi Derem, SVP, Investor Communication Solutions International,
Broadridge
However, volume is only half the story. The nature of events is changing. ‘High touch’, complex scenarios that resist standard automation are rising fast. Income and voluntary events now consume up to 58% of total asset servicing resources.
In China, widespread bond restructurings have triggered a flood of multi-stage, legally intricate corporate actions that are far removed from simple dividend payments. These events often involve debt-for-equity swaps that require human interpretation, and continuous client communication.
"Bond restructuring in China... has added multiple, complex corporate actions affecting hundreds of clients. This complexity increases manual processing... fueling volume growth beyond typical market expansion."
Head of Corporate Actions, European Wealth Management firm
Whilst APAC leads volume growth across all event types, Europe’s primary challenge is proxy voting.
of European respondents report volume growth in this area, even though it attracts the lowest global spend, at just $0.4M on average.
APAC’s growth, coupled with fragmented local infrastructure, makes modular automation critical. Without it, the region risks being overwhelmed by its own success.
The budget disconnect
Budget growth isn’t keeping pace. At an average of just 5%, corporate action budget growth is at its lowest rate in three years. After significant technology investments in 2023 and 2024, firms are pivoting away from strategic platform upgrades towards tactical maintenance.
Whether this marks a pause to leverage prior investments or a deeper reluctance to spend, many COOs are now under pressure to “do more with what they have,” stretching current, tactical solutions to the limit, rather than asking for increased budgets.
Across each sector, the arrows are pointing in the wrong direction – increasing workloads and mounting the strain on people and processes.
The challenge is that corporate action budgets are growing by their lowest rate in three years
The resource gap – people vs process
How has the asset servicing industry primarily responded to this 25% surge in workload? With people. One in five firms (21%) increased headcount by more than 10% in 2025. In contrast, 41% cut system spending, and nearly one in ten, worryingly, reduced budgets by up to 20%. This widening resource gap is stark and unforgiving.
The industry is effectively trying to stem rising volume and complexity with people instead of technology. Without investment in scalable automation, market participants do not have adequate defences. This divergence is the single biggest operational risk facing the industry in 2026.
The main growth is in people – whilst system spend is reducing for 41% of respondents
People power
Despite budget skewing towards headcount, our survey findings show that current models are unsustainable. To bridge the volume and complexity gap, firms would need up to 9 additional FTEs in each market just to maintain current operations. Given the scarcity of experienced asset servicing talent, and with cost reduction still a priority, this is unrealistic. Instead, firms are stretching existing teams to breaking point.
Where are we investing to grow?
For years, the industry's investment has focused on ‘core corporate actions,’ i.e. the basic processing of income and reorganisations. By 2025, that focus has shifted, yet budget growth for corporate actions is slowing despite rising complexity. The data suggests a chronic under-investment in class actions and proxy voting, especially in Europe and APAC. Both areas absorb far less headcount and spend than tax or income events.
With an average of just 3 employees per firm and $0.5M spend globally, class actions appear significantly under-resourced compared to income events with an average of 34 employees per firm and $0.9M spend globally: consuming up to 50% more resource than other asset servicing activities.
When resources are tight, priorities matter. The explanation is simple. With shrinking budgets and risk appetite low, decision makers are reacting rather than planning. And in this environment, few things command C-suite attention more than costly errors or client escalations.
Where are we investing to grow? Are we under-investing in class actions and proxy voting?
