Removing the Barriers to AI Success
Perhaps more than any other technology, artificial intelligence has enjoyed and endured its share of hype and hyperbole. But the numbers of those who remain sceptical about its potential are dwindling. Even in the heavily regulated financial services sector, where technological progress can sometimes be glacial, AI has quickly evolved from an experimental tool to a daily operational asset.
Increasingly, banks, asset managers, insurers, hedge funds and trading firms are seeking to embed AI into their processes, automating routine work, sharpening risk detection, personalising client interactions and delivering insights that traditional methods and analytics cannot match.
Risk.net’s 2025 survey of 104 senior industry professionals, combined with insights from leading practitioners across capital markets, offers a snapshot of the sector’s progress – and highlights where critical gaps remain. The findings reveal an industry shifting from cautious experimentation to, in some cases, wide-scale deployment.
Yet despite growth in budgets and use cases, it is still early days for achieving consistent, trusted results. Among the key challenges in developing a strong AI project pipeline, as identified by Risk.net’s previous report in this series, are problems with data quality, governance and uncertainty about how global rules for AI and digital resilience will reshape risk controls and compliance expectations.
Beyond obvious efficiency gains, more firms are viewing AI as a key enabler of long-term competitiveness and digital transformation, a trend that has caught the attention of supervisors and rulemakers.
Bodies such as the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the Financial Stability Board and national regulators increasingly warn that AI must meet the same standards for accountability, transparency and resilience that financial institutions apply to other core risk systems.
Firms that build robust data management and governance foundations will not only accelerate time to value but also stay ahead of a fast-evolving regulatory curve.
