Agentic AI Adoption: Banks Face Hurdles, Investment Soars

The evolution of AI is prompting difficult questions for leaders, particularly regarding where AI should make decisions and the criteria for when it goes wrong. Agentic AI is the next step in this journey, and enterprise investment reflects this shift. What's interesting is that 81 percent of banks now have dedicated AI budgets. This figure is projected to reach 17 percent of total IT spending by 2028. Beyond banking, 44 percent of finance teams expect to use agentic AI in 2026, which is a 600 percent increase from the prior year. Organizations are redefining leadership, governance, and culture to support responsible autonomy across the enterprise. However, banks face significant hurdles in adoption, including uncertain return on investment, high upfront costs, a shortage of responsible AI expertise, and inadequate security. The bottom line is that defining decision boundaries, accountability, and escalation paths before AI systems go into production is crucial for building trust and avoiding operational failures.