Insights from our 2026 Banking Study find APAC banks are not just investing in technology, they are simultaneously investing in the people, culture and organizational change that decide whether technology delivers.
Five takeaways
| 1. | Competitive, regulatory and risk pressures are being felt more acutely in APAC |
| 2. | On technology, APAC is keeping pace - and in some areas leading |
| 3. | APAC's competitive edge is people and culture |
| 4. | APAC banks are training broadly, hiring specifically and partnering strategically |
| 5. | Delivery of technology is running ahead of peers |
The same pressures, felt more acutely
In several dimensions, APAC banks are feeling 2026’s pressures more sharply than their peers in the US and Europe:
- 55% of APAC banks cite the emergence of new and non-financial risk as a significant challenge - versus 46% in the US and 49% in Europe.
- 51% cite tightening regulatory requirements on capital - significantly above 38% in the US and 45% in Europe.
- 51% are experiencing increased competition from new banks and fintechs (US 52%, Europe 61%).
- 51% identify legacy infrastructure as a constraint, and 50% cite fragmented data systems - both above US and European averages.
- 53% cite rising fraud and sanction enforcement (versus US 44%)
The infrastructure challenge matters most, because it is the foundation on which every other response - to competition, fraud, regulation, customer expectation - must be built.
49% of APAC banks describe their data as fragmented, unstructured or inconsistent - requiring 'cleansing' before it can be put to meaningful use, compared with 36% in the US and just 39% in Europe.
It suggests APAC banks are responding to comparable challenges from a starting position that is, in several respects, more constrained.
The shared response: technology investment
APAC institutions have assessed these pressures and the investment response is well underway. The headline picture mirrors the global one:
- 51% of APAC banks are investing in technology and AI for better workflow integration (US 47%, Europe 47%).
- 49% are investing in AI for data analytics (US 46%, Europe 58%).
- 46% are investing in new and innovative service delivery to meet rising customer expectations (US 43%, Europe 41%).
On the use of agentic AI specifically, APAC is ahead: 82% of banks report that it is in use across some or most teams – compared with 74% in the US.
But where this commentary usually ends, the more interesting story in APAC is just beginning.
The differentiator: people, culture and organizational change
The defining feature of the APAC response is not its technology spend. It is the recognition that technology delivers efficiency only when the organization around it is ready to use it.
Across the region, three deliberate moves are shaping that response: APAC banks are upskilling the existing workforce, hiring the specialist talent needed to lead the change, and blending in-house capability with strategic external partnerships. Each is happening at materially higher rates in APAC than in the US or Europe.
Train broadly
38% of APAC banks are making cultural changes to move the organization toward a technology-enabled data business - meaningfully ahead of 32% in the US and 30% in Europe.
Open-text comments from the region frame the tension between overcoming ingrained human behavior and investing in people as a precondition to realizing the benefits of AI and technology:
Hire specifically
42% of APAC banks are hiring senior staff with data and AI experience to drive strategic change - compared to 31% in the US and 32% in Europe. A further 43% are hiring AI and data specialists (US 37%, Europe 38%). Recruitment that once focused on generalists is now targeted at specific specialist categories - a direct response to AI agendas in areas like digital lending:
New positions are being built around data and specialized technology roles. The framing, however, is that AI augments judgment rather than replaces it:
Use partnerships strategically
Behind both the upskilling and the hiring sits a nuanced approach. APAC banks are deliberately blending in-house build with carefully chosen external partnerships - calibrating where to build, where to partner, and where to internalize what was first developed elsewhere.
32% of APAC banks are forming partnerships with organizations in adjacent sectors - almost a third more than the 24% (US) and 22% (Europe). The mix of internal build and external partnership is deliberate, not default. The result is a coherent philosophy: train broadly, hire selectively, partner where it accelerates, and keep critical capability inside the perimeter.
Three reasons sit behind this approach:
1. To maintain strict control over sensitive data and ensure regulatory compliance
2. To gain and sustain competitive advantage through highly customized solutions that off-the-shelf products cannot provide
3. To internalize technology capabilities first developed through fintech collaborations, while retaining the customer trust
The payoff is clear
APAC banking leaders think their approach is working:
- 47% strongly agree their organization places a high value on effective collaboration between internal teams (US 42%, Europe 43%).
- 32% strongly agree they are succeeding in implementing technological and data change directives operationally - ahead of 25% in the US and 29% in Europe.
The benefits of this approach are surfacing in different functions. In compliance and financial-crime work, the gain is in reducing investigation timelines:
In commercial lending, the benefit is in connecting functions that were previously working from different data sets. One APAC product sales lead put the link between data, teams, and time-to-decision plainly:
In credit risk, the payoff is in the rhythm and breadth of daily decision-making. AI assembles the data picture across portfolios, geographies and markets; human committees translate that picture into decisions:
The technology has made the saving possible. It is the region's cross-functional and people-orientated approach - across data, teams, and functions - that has made it real.
To find out how we can support your institution in its data and transformation journey, get in touch today.
Methodology
This whitepaper draws on data from an online survey of 348 senior banking decision-makers spanning the United States (45%), Europe (33%), and Asia-Pacific (19%), supplemented by 20 in-depth executive interviews across the same regions and functions. Participants comprised finance (41%), compliance (22%), risk (19%), and lending (19%) functions, from regional banks to Tier 1 global institutions.
Nearly half of respondents came from Tier 1 banks (large global or systemically important institutions, with assets typically exceeding US$500bn), 40% from Tier 2 (mid-sized regional and national banks), and 12% from Tier 3 (smaller community banks and specialist institutions). Traditional banks accounted for 70% of respondents, with fintechs and neo-banks comprising the remainder.
The research was conducted in February and March 2026 by independent research consultancy We Live Context on behalf of Moody’s, and is published in full in The intelligence edge: Banking’s new decision advantage (Moody’s, May 2026).
All comparative statistics cited in this whitepaper are drawn from that dataset.
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