Artificial intelligence is no longer a pilot project for financial institutions. Banks, fintechs, insurers and capital market firms are increasingly embedding AI into their core operations as they seek higher efficiency, lower costs and improved customer experiences.
According to NVIDIA’s State of AI in Financial Services: 2026 Trends report, 65% of financial services organisations are now actively using AI, up from 45% a year earlier. Nearly 90% of respondents said their organisations are either deploying, assessing or piloting AI initiatives. The survey covered 839 respondents across global financial institutions.
The report highlights that AI is delivering measurable business value. About 89% of respondents said AI has helped both increase annual revenue and reduce costs, while 83% reported generating a return on investment from AI deployments. Operational efficiency emerged as the biggest benefit, cited by 52% of respondents, followed by improved employee productivity.
Generative AI continues to gain traction across the sector. Nearly 61% of respondents identified generative AI among their top AI workloads, up from 52% in 2024. Data analytics remains the most widely adopted AI application, with 68% of financial institutions using it to support functions ranging from fraud detection to investment research.
The survey also found growing interest in agentic AI. Around 42% of organisations are already using or evaluating AI agents, with knowledge management, internal process optimisation and customer support emerging as the leading use cases.
Financial institutions are backing this transformation with larger budgets. Nearly all respondents said AI investments would either increase or remain unchanged in 2026, while 44% expect spending to rise by more than 10%.
NVIDIA said the findings indicate that AI has moved beyond experimentation and is becoming a strategic technology platform that will shape the future of financial services.
