Finance CEOs upbeat, positive on 2026 outlook

A new survey from EY-Parthenon has revealed that nine in 10 financial services CEOs globally expect revenue, profitability and productivity growth despite “muted confidence” in the global economy.

The EY-Parthenon CEO Outlook Survey takes place on a quarterly basis and includes 240 global financial services CEOs across 21 countries.

Fifty-nine per cent of financial services CEOs surveyed were “highly optimistic” about the sector’s prospects this year, with 27 per cent citing high levels of confidence in the outlook for the global economy.

In addition, 21 per cent of those surveyed expected a significant rise in revenues and profitability year on year, with 46 per cent anticipating a more marked rise in productivity, even as 23 per cent anticipated significant increases in operating costs versus 2025.

Omar Ali, EY Global financial services leader, said in the first month of 2026, there had been powerful crosscurrents that shaped and reshaped geopolitics, financial markets and technology in new and unexpected ways.

“For this reason, CEOs of the world’s financial institutions can’t – and won’t – wait for stability. The reverberations of policy shifts, market corrections, liquidity risks and valuation pressures all loom large ahead for the C-suite, but the firms leading the way aren’t constrained by macro fears, they’re doubling down on capital discipline, operational excellence, strong risk management and critically, transformation,” he said.

With the upcoming year, there are expectations that AI-driven investment across financial services will evolve from backing technology pilots to scaling initiatives.

From those surveyed, 45 per cent regarded AI and digital investment as the most important driver of their organisation’s resilience and adaptability in the current environment, and a quarter of CEOs said that AI initiatives deployed across their business had significantly outperformed expectations.

Fifty-seven per cent noted delivery ahead of expectations, strengthening C-Suite confidence in digital transformation, 30 per cent of financial services CEO respondents expected AI to fundamentally transform their firm’s value creation capability over a two-year time frame, and 63 per cent expected AI to drive major improvements across operations.

Preetham Peddanagari, EY Global financial services AI leader, said leaders also reported significant focus and progress on the governance of AI within the organisations.

“As AI deployment shifts from pilots to disciplined scaling across financial services firms, the sector is leading the way in AI governance, building the requisite safeguards as technologies are integrated into core strategies,” he said.

“With nine in 10 CEO respondents reporting board-level frameworks versus eight in 10 across non-financial sectors, it’s clear that financial services are setting the standard for AI governance in 2026.”

Looking ahead, the survey made clear talent remained central to AI-led transformation, with 87 per cent of CEOs optimistic about their ability to attract and retain talent over the coming year.