Banking CEOs surveyed in Aotearoa New Zealand and across the globe all displayed measured optimism, anticipating business and earnings growth while recalibrating M&A toward strategic, value‑adding transactions. Meanwhile AI has moved from pilot to scale — becoming central to operating models, customer experience, fraud detection and cyber defense — with leaders increasingly confident in near‑term ROI. At the same time, CEOs recognised the imperative to build trust in AI, addressing ethical challenges, data readiness, and governance to ensure fair, transparent outcomes.
Banks prioritised reskilling and redeployment, rethinking roles and entry‑level skills to enable human–machine collaboration that boosts productivity without eroding the human touch. Sustainability and compliance are being embedded across risk, credit and finance functions — advancing energy efficiency, climate risk modeling, and more robust ESG reporting.
Explore the report to uncover deeper insights — how banking leaders are scaling AI responsibly, strengthening cyber resilience, reshaping talent, and fine‑tuning deal strategies to advance the banking sector.
