Banking on trust
AI governance for growth, resilience and scale
Key takeaways
- Adoption rising, maturity lagging: 63% of bank employees use AI weekly; 87% of banks could significantly improve governance, with only 13% at leading maturity stage.
- Risk and trust pressures: In the first half of 2026, the financial services industry reported more AI incidents than in all of 2025. 84% of consumers say they would switch providers if their data were mishandled.
- Organisational and talent gaps: Organisational structure is the least mature dimension, while workforce capability continues to lag, limiting the consistent application of AI governance.
- Governance lagging emerging AI risks: Governance maturity is not keeping pace with newer forms of AI, with weaker monitoring and oversight for more autonomous systems.
- Governance drives growth: Stronger AI governance supports wider deployment, stronger revenue growth and more confident scaling.
AI has become a core strategic capability for global banks, helping drive efficiency, resilience, customer protection and new growth. As adoption accelerates from experimentation to enterprise-wide deployment, banks are also facing sharper data, regulatory, cyber and reputational risks, making effective AI governance essential to scaling safely.
Research from Deloitte Access Economics shows that stronger AI governance is linked to broader AI deployment and stronger revenue growth from better use of the technology, positioning governance as a growth enabler rather than a brake on innovation.
This paper benchmarks AI governance maturity across banks using Deloitte’s Trustworthy AI Governance Index. The index provides a snapshot of how global banks are progressing across key dimensions, including principles and policies, organisational structure, procedures and controls, people and skills, and monitoring, reporting and evaluation.
The findings suggest that while progress has been made, most banks still have significant room to strengthen their governance frameworks. The research also explores the link between AI governance and revenue outcomes and outlines practical steps for leading governance transformation.
84% of consumers would switch providers if their data was mishandled by their financial institution
Only 15% of banks provide regularly refreshed AI governance training to all staff
The annual number of AI incidents for financial services increased by nearly eight times between 2022 and 2025
One-third of global banks still rely on ad hoc training or provide no AI governance training at all
The average revenue growth uplift from a 10 point increase in Trustworthy AI Governance Index score
Most banks already recognise the need for more effective AI governance. Nearly two-thirds report that their current governance arrangements do not adequately manage the way AI is being used across the organisation, and only a small minority have reached optimised maturity.
The findings in this report are clear: stronger governance is associated with broader AI deployment, greater organisational confidence and stronger revenue growth. In other words, the gap in AI governance is no longer just a control issue. It is becoming a strategic and commercial gap.
Methodology
In 2026, Deloitte’s Trustworthy AI team surveyed 24 leaders from G-SIBs and D-SIBs across 14 countries to assess the maturity level of AI governance structure.
Following this a survey of 111 senior technology, AI and data employees for G-SIBs, D-SIBs and other large banks captured additional perspectives across 16 countries. Data was collected using two purpose-built survey instruments designed to capture the perspective across the global banks, securing a total of 135 respondents.
