85% of Financial Firms Plan AI Budget Increases
85% of Financial Firms Plan AI Budget Increases
Publish Date: 2026-07-09 04:04:00
Source Domain: www.pymnts.com
- The Enterprise AI Benchmark Report highlights the growing importance of AI within enterprises, particularly in financial services, insurance, healthcare, and media sectors.
- Within the financial services and insurance sector, AI investments are aimed at improving productivity, enhancing competitive positioning, and mitigating risks.
- The financial services sector leads in planned AI budget increases, with 85% intending to raise their AI budgets over the next year, attributing 65% of their AI investment justifications to productivity and efficiency gains and strategic positioning.
- The media and advertising sector also plans significant AI budget increases (80% expect to raise these budgets), though only 25% cite monetary ROI as a major driver, indicating a focus on productivity alongside executive support.
- Healthcare and medical firms plan moderate growth in AI spending (60%), primarily using pilot funding aimed at operational relief through quick fixes with no formal financial ROI requirement.
- Barriers to AI deployment vary per sector: financial services face data quality and fragmentation issues, healthcare firms deal with system integration and data quality, while media and advertising firms tackle skills gaps and governance alignment.
- Regardless of sector, most executives foresee AI augmenting, rather than replacing, human judgment over the next five years.
