Creatio report finds financial firms are scaling AI beyond pilots

Creatio released a financial services edition of its AI adoption report on Oct. 27, 2026, based on responses from more than 190 industry leaders. The findings show 80% of financial institutions have moved beyond experimentation, while most expect AI agents to expand capacity, reshape jobs, and drive measurable business value.

Why it matters: - Financial services is moving from AI testing to enterprise deployment, which raises the stakes for productivity, customer experience, governance and workforce design. - The report suggests AI agents are becoming operational tools, not just experimental technology, across customer onboarding, relationship management and service operations. - The findings matter because institutions that scale AI well may gain speed, capacity and revenue growth advantages over slower adopters.

What happened: - Creatio released the Financial Services Edition of its State of Enterprise AI Adoption Report on Oct. 27, 2026. - The report draws on a survey of more than 190 financial services IT and business decision-makers. - The financial services sample is part of Creatio's broader global study of more than 600 leaders. - The report finds 80% of financial institutions have moved beyond AI experimentation, versus 70% in the global sample. - The report finds 81% of financial institutions are already scaling AI agents across departments or expect to do so within 12 months.

The details: - 87% of financial institutions expect AI agents to expand workforce capacity, augment existing teams or create new roles. - Only 12% expect significant headcount reductions. - The share expecting AI to create new roles has risen from 4% in 2025 to 15% in 2026. - 63% of respondents report higher productivity from AI. - 51% report faster decision-making. - 42% report improved customer experience. - 44% of institutions automating more than half of workflows with AI report revenue gains. - By comparison, only 13% of institutions automating less than 10% of workflows report revenue gains. - Only 19% of financial institutions qualify as AI Adoption Leaders. - Among AI Adoption Leaders, 51% have embedded AI enterprise-wide. - Among other organizations, 9% have embedded AI enterprise-wide. - Among AI Adoption Leaders, 59% are scaling AI agents across departments. - Among other organizations, 21% are scaling AI agents across departments. - 72% of organizations with established AI governance feel very confident about scaling AI. - 23% of organizations still developing governance frameworks feel very confident about scaling AI. - Creatio said the governance gap makes established-governance organizations more than three times as likely to express high confidence in scaling AI.

Between the lines: - The report points to a broader shift in financial services from isolated AI use cases to operating-model change. - The strong link between governance and scaling confidence suggests risk controls are becoming a business enabler, not just a compliance layer. - The gap between AI Adoption Leaders and other firms shows that implementation quality, not just investment, may determine business results.

What's next: - Creatio expects the next phase of AI adoption to center on bringing people, AI agents and business processes together at scale. - Financial institutions are likely to keep expanding AI across departments as they move from pilot programs to measurable outcomes. - The full report is available as the financial services report.