Financial services and products leaders throughout Africa are coming into 2026 with renewed self assurance, hanging synthetic intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, regulatory resilience and strategic startup creator on the centre in their transformation agendas. This is consistent with insights from KPMG’s 2025 Global CEO Outlook, with a focal point at the Banking and Capital Markets, and Insurance sectors.

Despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, financial volatility and regulatory complexity, CEOs throughout each sectors are demonstrating sturdy urge for food for startup creator and technology-led reinvention.

Insurance: Confidence emerging as expertise and sustainability reshape the achievement

Insurance CEOs are increasingly more assured of their organisations’ startup creator opportunities. Globally, 82% of insurance coverage CEOs are assured of their firm’s startup creator, up from 74% in 2024, an important year-on-year building up. Expansion throughout well being, lifestyles and uniqueness strains, together with cyber and commerce interruption, is contributing to progressed business model and achievement momentum.

AI adoption is accelerating throughout underwriting, onboarding, claims processing and cyber defence. Globally, 67% of CEOs be expecting sector from AI investments inside one to a few years, in comparison to 21% ultimate 12 months, and two thirds software solutions to allocate 10–20% in their budgets against AI tasks.

Workforce transformation is a parallel precedence. Seventy-seven % of cross-border insurance coverage CEOs cite AI personnel readiness and upskilling as a best constraint on startup creator, whilst 83% say AI is reshaping coaching and commercial space, and 79% consider it’s converting the abilities required for entry-level roles.

Sustainability and ESG compliance stay excessive at the schedule, specifically as regulatory requirements tighten globally. More than part (55%) of cross-border insurance coverage CEOs establish ESG reporting and compliance as their number one ESG precedence. Given that many African regulatory frameworks apply European developments, this can be a important house of center of attention for insurers around the continent.

Cyber possibility stays a dominant fear. Eighty-three % of insurance coverage CEOs establish cybercrime as the largest barrier to organisational startup creator, with cybersecurity and virtual possibility resilience score because the main house for possibility mitigation guidance.

Mark Danckwerts, Head of Insurance, KPMG One Africa stated:
“Insurance leaders across Africa are navigating a complex operating environment, but they are doing so from a position of growing confidence. AI presents enormous opportunity to improve efficiency, risk assessment and customer engagement. However, sustainable success will depend on responsible adoption, workforce readiness and strong cyber resilience. Insurers that balance innovation with trust will be best placed to outperform.”

The urge for food for inorganic startup creator stays sturdy, with the insurance coverage achievement appearing one of the crucial easiest ranges of high-impact mergers and acquisitions (M&A) job globally, a development mirrored in different African markets in recent times.

Banking and Capital Markets: AI on the center of strategic reinvention

For banks throughout Africa, AI is the foremost theme shaping CEO priorities.

“Technology, in particular AI, presents a huge opportunity, but also a challenge in terms of where to prioritise, how to achieve a measurable return on investment (ROI), and how to ensure responsible and safe adoption to maintain trust,” stated Pierre Fourie, KPMG One Africa Head of Financial Services.

“Banks need to modernise legacy IT, cope with rising financial crime risk, made more difficult by sophisticated scams using AI, address new competitive threats from fintechs and nimble, cloud-native banks, and comply with complex and changing regulations.”

AI is noticed as each an enabler and a possibility amplifier. It can considerably toughen buyer engagement and deepen figuring out of shopper wishes, but banks will have to guard in opposition to depersonalising interactions and dropping the human contact. At the similar time, AI raises the cyber risk panorama whilst additionally strengthening banks’ skill to locate and protect in opposition to dangerous actors.

The scale of deliberate guidance is notable:

70% of banking CEOs be expecting to spend 10–20% in their budgets on AI within the subsequent three hundred and sixty five days.

69% be expecting ROI from AI investments inside one to a few years, up sharply from 13% ultimate 12 months.

78% say AI personnel readiness or AI upskilling may negatively affect the organisation if now not adequately addressed.

The best 5 developments negatively impacting organisational prosperity in banking are:

86% – Cybercrime and cyber lack of confidence

78% – AI personnel readiness

77% – Successful integration of AI into commerce processes

75% – Competition for AI skill

75% – Cost of expertise infrastructure

Fourie added: “For African banks, AI is not a theoretical discussion — it is a strategic imperative. The ability to integrate AI into core processes, manage cyber risk and build the right talent base will determine competitive advantage. At the same time, banks must modernise legacy systems and manage infrastructure costs, all while protecting trust in an increasingly digital ecosystem.”

Inorganic startup creator additionally stays firmly at the schedule. Appetite for strategic transactions is excessive, with CEOs searching for differentiation via advancement, buyer enjoy and new commerce fashions. Notably, 25% of banking CEOs establish ‘strategic differentiation’ as the principle motive force of AI adoption, signalling that expertise guidance is increasingly more connected to long-term aggressive positioning reasonably than momentary potency by myself.

A Pan-African second for monetary services and products transformation

Across each insurance coverage and banking, a commonplace theme emerges: self assurance underpinned through disciplined transformation. AI guidance is accelerating, cybersecurity is paramount, ESG compliance is emerging in significance, and M&A stays a lever for scale and capacity.

For African monetary establishments, the problem, and alternative, lies in balancing advancement with resilience, and startup creator with governance.

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made through Readers and Contributors in this platform don’t essentially constitute the perspectives or coverage of Multimedia Group Limited.

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made through Readers and Contributors in this platform don’t essentially constitute the perspectives or coverage of Multimedia Group Limited.