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Across the global banking and financial services industry, artificial intelligence (AI) implementation has shifted from experimentation to aggressive adoption. In 2025, nearly all of the 1,500+ managers and executives in the banking and financial services sector polled for a study commissioned by Finastra indicated either using, exploring or research AI options, underscoring the near ubiquity of AI in the space.
The study, conducted last year and covering 11 markets, revealed the widespread adoption of AI in finance, finding that only 2% of the organizations surveyed were not using AI at all. This result is a dramatic indicator of near-universal adoption of AI in the global financial industry, and reveals that what was once a frontier technology, faced with undeniable skepticism, is now embedded across the banking value chain, reshaping trust, efficiency and customer experience.
Which of the following best describes your organization’s adoption and implementation of AI? Source: Financial Services State of the Nation Survey 2026, Finastra
Despite the global uptake, findings show that some markets are leading the charge. In particular, Vietnam is seeing the highest level of active AI deployment at 74%. In contrast, Japan is lagging behind its global counterparts at just 39%.
According to Finastra, Japan’s low performance may be in part explained by the fact that digitally advanced economies are more cautious about technological change and favor incremental innovation over rapid deployment. These economies may also be hindered by their legacy systems which are slowing down modernization efforts and upgrades.
Different priorities
The research also found that although AI is a key focus for financial institutions worldwide, the motivations behind adoption differ across markets.
In Vietnam, banks and financial institutions are embracing AI to increase speed, with 49% of respondents in the country indicating using AI to accelerate processing in payments and lending services. This is possibly to respond to booming demand and the need to keep pace with rapid financial inclusion.
In Japan, institutions are leaning more into workforce productivity at 49%, reflecting demographic pressures and a cultural preference for incremental, employee-centric innovation.
Singapore, meanwhile, emphasizes compliance and regulatory processes at 43%, with firms leveraging AI to navigate the city state’s increasingly complex oversight while maintaining resilience.
In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), banks are deploying AI to improve accuracy and reduce error (53%) but also to lower operational costs (44%). This reflects a clear focus on efficiency and reliability.
Finally, in Saudi Arabia, AI is perceived as a lever for competitive advantage at 41%, reflecting an ambition to leapfrog peers in digital transformation.
Organizations’ primary objectives for implementing AI, Source: Financial Services State of the Nation Survey 2026, Finastra
Payment as a primary focus for AI transformation: Singapore Leads
Across key business lines, banks and financial institutions have identified payments as their primary area of focus for AI transformation, leveraging the technology to deliver personalized, trustworthy, and customer-centric experiences.
Over the past 12 months, 38% of organizations have deployed or enhanced AI use cases in their payment technology. This highlights the significance of AI in areas including fraud detection, anomaly detection, and personalized transaction flows.
AI use cases were their top focus for payment technology improvement and deployment over the past year, surpassing real-time payments, alternative payment methods, and operational resilience. This underscores the sector’s emphasis on immediacy and customer convenience.
Certain markets, particularly across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, have progressed significantly further than others. Notably, Singapore leads in experimentation and deployment of AI use cases in payment technology, with a 73% adoption rate, followed by Vietnam at 57%.
AI use cases in payments will remain a top priority in payment technology for the next 12 months, with 40% of respondents globally planning improvements and deployments in this area.
Payment technologies improvement and deployment, Source: Financial Services State of the Nation Survey 2026, Finastra
Lending: focus on AI assistants and fraud
Another key business line of AI adoption in the global financial industry is lending. In this field, the technology is used to enhance risk assessment and expedite automated credit decisions.
Like for payments, AI-related use cases were the top priority in lending improvement in 2024 and 2025. 36% of the organizations polled in 2025 indicated having adopted AI assistants and chatbots for training and troubleshooting over the past year, with the US, Germany, and the UK leading in adoption, at 45%, 42%, and 41%, respectively.
AI assistants and chatbots will remain a key area of focus for lending technology improvement and deployment within the next 12 months, at 34%.
Following AI assistants, fraud, along with know-your-customer (KYC) and know-your-business (KYB) enhancements, were the second most significant areas of focus for improvement and deployment in lending.
Over the past 12 months, 35% of respondents deployed fraud, and KYC/KYB enhancements to strengthen identity verification and financial crime prevention. This trend was most prevalent in Vietnam at 47%, while Japan lagged behind at just 11%. Over the next 12 months, 29% of global respondents will continue to focus on fraud, and KYC/KYB enhancements, underscoring a shift towards faster, more transparent, and seamless lending journeys.
Lending technologies improvement and deployment, Source: Financial Services State of the Nation Survey 2026, Finastra
Though the adoption of AI has increased around the world, some regions are leading others. A July 2025 study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) polled over 4,500 employees and found that workers in APAC are embracing generative AI (genAI) tools faster than their global peers. In APAC, 70% of frontline employees use genAI regularly compared to just 51% globally. Overall, 78% of APAC respondents use AI at least weekly, versus 72% worldwide.
Adoption of AI also varies sharply across countries. In India, an overwhelming 92% of employees use AI, while Japan lags at just 51%.
Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by freepik via Freepik
