Banks aim for agentic AI scale in 2026: report

The technology is expected to grow beyond early deployments and reach broader adoption across financial services this year, according to Accenture.

Dive Brief: 

• AI model advances and maturation of enterprise tools for agent design and deployment will let the banking industry take greater advantage of agentic AI in 2026, according to Accenture’s Top Banking Trends for 2026 report published Wednesday. 
• Banks will turn to platforms from major cloud providers in order to build AI agents that align with their brands, compliance and service standards, the report said. AI agents are already improving performance for the financial services industry in software engineering, risk management and customer service. 
• “Executives must empower employees to reimagine workflows and co-design intuitive human-AI interactions that elevate work rather than replace it,” Andrew Young, managing director and global talent and organization lead for financial services at Accenture, wrote in the report.