Two major global surveys landed within weeks of each other in early 2026. One asked CEOs about growth and investment. The other asked technology leaders about infrastructure and constraints. Read separately, they offer useful data points. Read together, they reveal something more valuable: a roadmap.
The message for African financial services leaders is clear. Confidence in AI is rising rapidly. Investment budgets are following. But the organisations that turn that confidence into durable competitive advantage will be those that pair ambition with foundational discipline.
Survey one: The CEO view – confidence accelerating
KPMG’s 2025 Global CEO Outlook, with a specific focus on Banking, Capital Markets, and Insurance, surveyed leaders at the very top of the industry. The headline numbers are striking.
Among global insurance CEOs, 82% are confident in their company’s growth prospects, up from 74% in 2024. AI adoption is accelerating across underwriting, onboarding, claims processing, and cyber defence. 67% of insurance CEOs expect returns from AI investments within one to three years – a sharp jump from just 21% the previous year. Two‑thirds plan to allocate 10–20% of their budgets to AI initiatives.
The banking sector shows a similar trajectory. 70% of banking CEOs expect to spend 10–20% of their budgets on AI in the next 12 months. 69% expect ROI within one to three years, up dramatically from 13% last year.
But the survey also reveals the constraints that keep CEOs awake at night. For insurance leaders, 83% identify cybercrime as the biggest barrier to organisational growth. Cybersecurity and digital risk resilience rank as the leading area for risk mitigation investment. For banking CEOs, the top five negative impact trends are:
- 86% – Cybercrime and cyber insecurity
- 78% – AI workforce readiness
- 77% – Successful integration of AI into business processes
- 75% – Competition for AI talent
- 75% – Cost of technology infrastructure
Mark Danckwerts, Head of Insurance, KPMG One Africa, captured the balancing act: “Insurance leaders across Africa are navigating a complex operating environment, but they are doing so from a position of growing confidence. AI presents enormous opportunity. However, sustainable success will depend on responsible adoption, workforce readiness, and strong cyber resilience.”
Pierre Fourie, KPMG One Africa Head of Financial Services, added: “For African banks, AI is not a theoretical discussion – it is a strategic imperative. The ability to integrate AI into core processes, manage cyber risk and build the right talent base will determine competitive advantage.”
Survey two: The technology leader view – foundations matter more than speed
While CEOs focused on growth and ROI, KPMG’s Global Tech Report 2026 surveyed 760 financial services technology leaders globally. The findings add a critical layer of nuance to the CEO optimism.
The report confirms the sector’s ambition: 89% of financial services technology leaders identify as innovators or fast followers. AI maturity is expected to evolve rapidly, with organisations shifting from pilots to scaled deployment.
But the report also delivers a warning. Over half of financial services organisations say foundational technologies – data, cloud, and cybersecurity – deliver the majority of their digital value. Even as AI adoption accelerates, the underlying architecture remains the primary source of returns.
This is not a contradiction. It is a sequence. AI cannot perform reliably on poor data. It cannot scale on fragile cloud infrastructure. It cannot earn customer trust without robust cybersecurity. The technology leaders surveyed understand that speed without foundations creates technical debt, not competitive advantage.
The report also highlights persistent constraints: talent shortages, the drag of legacy IT, and security concerns that slow deployment. These are not new problems. But they become acute when organisations attempt to scale AI across entire enterprises rather than in isolated pilots.
The synthesis: What African financial services leaders should do differently
Read together, the two surveys point to three actionable conclusions.
First, the investment window is open but not infinite. CEO confidence and budget allocation are rising sharply. That creates a brief period where AI investment faces relatively low internal resistance. Leaders who move now – with discipline – can build capabilities that later entrants will struggle to replicate.
Second, workforce readiness is the binding constraint. Both surveys highlight AI skills and upskilling as a top concern. 77% of insurance CEOs and 78% of banking CEOs cite AI workforce readiness as a potential negative impact if not adequately addressed. Technology investment without talent investment is infrastructure without operators.
Third, cybersecurity is not a separate budget line. It is the cost of entry. Over 80% of CEOs in both sectors identify cybercrime as a primary barrier. The technology leaders confirm that security is foundational. Organisations that treat cyber resilience as an add‑on rather than a prerequisite will not scale AI safely.
The opportunity for African institutions
For financial services leaders across Africa, these global surveys carry local urgency. African institutions often operate with thinner margins, tighter talent pools, and more variable infrastructure than their global peers. That makes disciplined execution not a luxury but a survival mechanism.
The organisations that succeed will not be those with the most ambitious AI pilots. They will be those that:
- Allocate 10–20% of budgets to AI while protecting equal investment in data quality, cloud resilience, and cybersecurity.
- Build workforce upskilling programmes before deploying AI at scale, not in reaction to adoption failures.
- Treat AI not as a technology project but as a managed investment with clear stage gates, fixed review cadence, and a single evidence pack tracking both benefits and total cost of ownership.
Pierre Fourie’s observation applies across the continent: “AI is a huge opportunity, but also a challenge in terms of where to prioritise, how to achieve a measurable ROI, and how to ensure responsible and safe adoption to maintain trust.”
The new baseline for 2026
The surveys are clear. Confidence is high. Budgets are following. ROI expectations have moved from years to months.
But the technology leaders offer a corrective. Speed alone is not enough. Foundational technologies – data, cloud, cybersecurity – deliver the majority of digital value. AI is the engine, but the track must be built first.
For forward‑thinking leaders across African banking, insurance, and fintech, the question is no longer whether to invest in AI. The question is whether the foundations are strong enough to make that investment deliver.
AI presents enormous opportunity. But sustainable success will depend on responsible adoption, workforce readiness, and strong cyber resilience. Insurers that balance innovation with trust will be best placed to outperform. – Mark Danckwerts, KPMG One Africa
SOURCES:
https://www.fanews.co.za/article/surveys-reports-and-ratings/34/general/1195/financial-services-ceos-double-down-on-ai-resilience-and-growth-in-2026/43379
https://kpmg.com/xx/en/our-insights/ai-and-technology/global-tech-report/financial-services.html