Survey of AI in financial institutions finds uneven adoption and risk management, says report
AI’s potential to benefit financial institutions’ credit quality is increasingly tangible, though differing levels of adoption and readiness mean gains will be uneven, S&P Global Ratings said in a published report.
The report, “AI In Financial Institutions Survey: Uneven Adoption And Risk Management Will Drive Credit Quality Differentiation,” details the results and insights of our survey of 179 financial institutions’ AI deployment, forecasts, hurdles, and governance.
Key findings include:
- Just 8% of financial institutions claim to have enterprise-wide AI solutions, with the majority describing their AI journey as intermediate.
- Most respondents, 69%, have AI governance frameworks, though only 39% have board level oversight of AI, implying that institutions have not yet settled for a common governance model.
- AI-driven profitability gains, which are expected to stem largely from cost savings, are forecast to accelerate by the end of 2028 as implementation scales.
- Data readiness and regulatory and governance hurdles are expected to be the key challenges financial institutions’ AI deployment across all regions.
“Our survey suggests that financial institutions with mature AI strategies, strong governance frameworks, and deep integration of AI in core operations are better positioned to capture efficiency gains, drive revenue generation, and strengthen risk management,” said S&P Global Ratings’ analyst Miriam Fernandez. “Moreover, the uneven pace of adoption, governance maturity, and operational readiness suggests AI will increasingly contribute to the strengthening or weakening of financial institutions’ creditworthiness over the next several years.”