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SEON has released the second edition of its AI Reality Check: 2026 Fraud & AML Leaders Report.
Based on a global survey of 1,010 fraud, risk, and compliance leaders across payments, fintech, financial services, retail, eCommerce, and gaming, the report highlights that while AI adoption is nearly universal, operational challenges are increasing.
The survey found that 98% of organisations now integrate AI into daily fraud and AML workflows, with 95% confident it works, including 52% who are very confident.
AI/ML for transaction monitoring was the most common use case, cited by 30% of respondents.
Despite automation, organisations are expanding teams and budgets: 94% plan to add at least one full-time hire, up from 88% in 2025, 85% plan to add a vendor, and 49% intend to replace an existing one.
83% expect budgets to rise in 2026.
Fragmentation remains a significant bottleneck, with only 47% running fully integrated workflows and 95% reporting partial integration between fraud and AML systems.
80% find achieving a unified view of data challenging. Implementation times vary, with just 10% going live in under two weeks, 38% taking 1-3 months, and 24% requiring four months or more, contributing to higher costs (52%) and prolonged fraud exposure (47%).
Top threats included account takeovers (26%), promo/discount abuse (18%), and return fraud (18%).
Tamas Kadar
“Fraud and financial crime were supposed to become more manageable as AI matured,”
said Tamas Kadar, CEO and co-founder of SEON.
“Instead, 2026 is the year leaders are confronting a more complicated reality. The bottleneck is no longer whether AI works. It’s disconnected data, siloed teams, and slow implementations.”
Looking ahead, 78% of respondents expect decentralised digital identity to become central to fraud and AML, while 33% highlight data privacy regulations and 25% cite criminals’ advanced AI techniques as shaping future risk strategies.
Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by RSplaneta via Freepik
