ING takes 40% stake in Singular Bank, Schroders sells UK advice arm ahead of $13.5B Nuveen deal

Private banks, registered investment advisers (RIAs) and technology providers moved further upmarket this week, layering family governance services and institutional-grade investment infrastructure onto their core wealth offering.

In the Gulf, Deutsche Bank opened a government-backed pathway for family offices in Dubai. In the US, Activest launched a formal governance programme for ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) families amid continued RIA consolidation. In Europe, ING advanced private banking consolidation by acquiring a stake in Spain's Singular Bank.

Read more on the week's key developments:

Deutsche Bank expands Dubai family office strategy through DET partnership

Deutsche Bank signed a strategic agreement with Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) on 6 July 2026 to strengthen its wealth management offering for international clients considering relocation, diversification or cross-border structuring. Drawing on its global wealth management, private banking, corporate and investment banking franchises, the bank will identify family offices, UHNW individuals, corporates and family-owned businesses seeking to establish or expand a presence in Dubai. DET will provide end-to-end support, including business setup, government coordination and residency pathways.

The partnership gives Deutsche Bank a structured, government-backed referral route into the Dubai family office market. The bank will also host a Wealth and Family Office Forum in Dubai and bring DET to international client roadshows, while the emirate strengthens its position as a destination for globally mobile private wealth.

Activest launches formal family office governance programme

Activest Wealth Management launched a Family Office Governance Programme on 8 July 2026, developed with family enterprise scholar Dennis T. Jaffe, for UHNW families served by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registered adviser. The framework combines facilitated family meetings, governance design, multigenerational education, succession planning and legacy-focused conversations. Activest describes the programme as shifting family governance from occasional advisory conversations into an ongoing part of the client relationship. An inaugural cohort of families has engaged in the programme.

Across the cohort, families have used the framework to open conversations about long-term legacy and to coordinate decision making around shared assets, adviser relationships and investment oversight. Activest said the launch reflects a broader shift in wealth management toward addressing the interpersonal and governance questions that can shape whether family wealth lasts across generations.

ING to acquire stake in Singular Bank

ING announced on 6 July 2026 a strategic investment in private banking through the acquisition of a non-controlling stake in Singular Bank, a leading independent Spanish wealth manager with around EUR 19 billion ($21.6 billion) of client assets. The stake is expected to be approximately 40% at completion, with the final percentage subject to a planned additional investment by Singular Bank's own management. ING is buying from private equity firm Warburg Pincus, which currently holds 93% of shares; Singular Bank will continue operating independently, led by chief executive Javier Marin, alongside ING's own newly launched private banking proposition in Spain. Closing is expected in the first quarter of 2027.

The deal accelerates ING's growth in Spanish private banking under its Growing the difference strategy, pairing digital scale with Singular Bank's product range for high-net-worth (HMW) clients. Both parties will pursue further commercial cooperation on client base and assets under management (AUM), with ING retaining the option to increase its stake later.

Hightower Signature Wealth adds $5B across three practices

Hightower Advisors expanded Hightower Signature Wealth (HTSW), its fully integrated wealth management practice, on 7 July 2026 with the addition of Private Vista, Hightower Great Lakes and The McGuirk and De Nevi Group. The three practices bring approximately $5 billion in combined AUM, six locations and more than 40 team members, lifting HTSW to roughly $35 billion in AUM, over 140 advisers and more than 40 locations.

Year to date, Hightower has added more than $25 billion in new assets to the HTSW brand through internal conversions and acquisitions. The expansion follows Hightower's broadening of family office services last month through relationships with institutional consultancy NEPC and business management firm Grant Tani Barash & Altman, underlining the platform's push to combine local advisory relationships with institutional-grade infrastructure.

Aspen Standard Wealth adds eighth firm in $1.3B deal

Aspen Standard Wealth, a permanent home platform for independent RIAs backed by Alpine Investors, added Kalamazoo-based CWS Financial Advisors on 7 July 2026, its eighth deal since late 2024. CWS advises on approximately $1.3 billion in client assets and dates back to 1983. The firm broke away from Wells Fargo's FiNet unit in 2018 to become an independent, fee-only firm. The acquisition lifts Aspen's affiliated firms to $15 billion.

The deal lands amid accelerating consolidation in the sector, with Echelon Partners recording 142 total RIA mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions in the first quarter of 2026, of which RIA buyers accounted for 106 deals, or 74.6%. Aspen's model lets acquired firms keep their brand and leadership while owners take a minority stake in the holding company, a structure designed to preserve client relationships that built each firm.

BlackRock Aladdin expands private markets benchmarking tools

BlackRock Aladdin announced on 8 July 2026 the expansion of its Preqin Benchmarks and Indices solutions, giving investors reporting-grade indices and customisable peer benchmarks in a single place across the Aladdin ecosystem, including Aladdin Wealth. The enhanced closed-end fund level indices now cover more than 10,000 funds representing over $13 trillion, built on daily cash flow data sourced directly from limited partners. Alongside these sit asset-level indices and more than 140,000 peer benchmarks.

The update follows BlackRock's GBP 2.55 billion (approximately $3.2 billion) acquisition of Preqin, announced in June 2024 and completed on 3 March 2025. BlackRock said the expansion reflects private markets becoming a larger part of institutional and wealth portfolios, extending institutional-grade benchmarking into advisory and model portfolio workflows and letting wealth managers build a single view spanning public and private holdings.

SS&C expands tokenised fund infrastructure with digital cash settlement

SS&C Technologies announced on 7 July 2026 plans to enable digital cash settlement for tokenised investment transactions, supporting regulated forms of digital cash including stablecoins and tokenised commercial bank deposits. The move builds on SS&C's tokenised fund issuance and distribution capabilities, launched earlier this year following its 2025 acquisition of Calastone, a global funds network. SS&C is the largest third-party transfer agent for mutual funds, with more than $45 trillion in assets on its technology.

The planned enhancements are designed to support atomic settlement, reducing settlement risk and simplifying cross-border transactions as tokenised funds move from pilot to production. For wealth managers and private banks distributing funds through the combined SS&C and Calastone network, the update creates a pathway for eligible funds to be settled using digital cash alongside conventional payment rails.

Noah Holdings CIO office argues AI's biggest opportunity is in infrastructure

Noah Holdings' latest investment outlook argues that the biggest opportunity in AI lies not in AI companies themselves but in the physical infrastructure that enables them, including power generation, electricity grids and data centres.

Noah Holdings, a global wealth manager serving HNW Chinese families, released its H2 2026 Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Report on 6 July 2026, arguing that capital markets are moving beyond AI as a narrative and increasingly valuing the power generation, electricity grids and data centres that support its growth. The report describes this transition as the "Year of Realisation". The CIO Office argues that these physical assets may offer greater long-term investment opportunities than AI companies themselves. The report separately cites data showing 61% of global family offices identify geopolitical conflict as their top risk, which Noah links to rising demand for gold and other tangible, cash-generative assets as monetary anchors loosen.

Julius Baer's Lifestyle report points to rising geopolitical caution among HNWIs

Geopolitical uncertainty coincides with continued demand for family office and governance services among wealthy clients, according to Julius Baer's latest research. Published on 7 July 2026, the Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report 2026 combines a premium lifestyle index across 25 cities with findings from 360 HNWIs in Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, North America and Latin America.

The cost of a premium lifestyle rose 10.2% in US dollar terms over the past year, driven mainly by currency movements, with Singapore remaining the most expensive city and Monaco entering the top three. Between 82% and 95% of respondents across all regions said they were concerned or very concerned about geopolitics. In the Middle East, 65% use family offices and 73% have formal governance frameworks. The survey was completed before the Iran conflict.

Schroders sells UK advice arm as Nuveen takeover nears

Schroders agreed on 6 July 2026 to sell Benchmark, its UK integrated financial advice business, to Söderberg and Partners, narrowing its wealth arm ahead of Nuveen's pending $13.5 billion takeover of the group. The deal is part of a simplification plan set out in March 2025. Schroders becomes a long-term asset management partner to the combined firm, while Söderberg and Partners, a Sweden-founded group with GBP 108 billion ($144 billion) in assets under advice, gains a UK advice business it has targeted since 2024.

The sale leaves a leaner Schroders wealth franchise built around Cazenove Capital domestically and Schroders Wealth Management internationally, aimed at HNW, UHNW, family office, charity and endowment clients. It follows Schroders exiting its joint advice venture with Lloyds and its stake in Schroders Personal Wealth, continuing a pattern of narrowing toward wealthier clients ahead of the pending change in ownership.

What to watch next

ING's investment in Singular Bank is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027. Attention will also turn to the integration of Schroders under Nuveen and whether the combined group accelerates its wealth ambitions. RIA consolidation is expected to continue following this week's Hightower and Aspen Standard deals.