Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Agentic AI in Banking From Pilots to Real Impact
AI Research Report | Sep 15, 2025
Image: Banking Use of Agentic AI (Figue 1, MIT Insights Survey 2025)
70% of Bankers are Using Agentic AI and Only Those With Governance, Trust, and Skills Will Win
A recent MIT Technology Review Insights survey of 250 global banking executives found that 70% of banks already use agentic AI, with 16% running live deployments and 52% in pilots. For Canadian financial institutions and fintechs, the race is on with global competitors embedding AI solutions into compliance, fraud prevention, and customer service at scale.
Banks Turn to Agentic AI for Fraud Detection and Security
Fraud detection and IT security are setting the pace. More than half of executives report that agentic AI is already highly capable in fraud detection (56%) and security (51%), with efficiency gains and customer experience improvements each cited by 41%. These use cases are significant because fraud losses are rising and regulators are upping their game on cyber resilience.
See: RBC and Cohere Partner on ‘North for Banking’ AI Platform
Practical applications include mortgage underwriting, small business lending, collections, dispute resolution, and know-your-customer KYC compliance. By using agentic agents together with expert human oversight, banks are compressing decision times from weeks to days and freeing time for employees to focus on higher value work.
As HSBC’s Ian Glasner puts it, “Think of agentic AI as like an intern helping you get all of the more simplistic tasks done, but the human is still there to oversee and take the final decision.”
Governance, Skills, and Data Remain Adoption Hurdles
Image: MIT Insights Banking Survey 2025 (Figure 6 Challenges, Agentic AI)
The survey also suggests that adoption challenges are growing, top three barriers include: 1. Governance, risk, and compliance (63%), 2. Shortage of technology skills (58%), and 3. Poor data quality and integration (54%).
To overcome, Canadian banks and fintechs should focus on resolving weak data linkages across silos and the shortage of AI ready talent needed to scale responsibly.
See: Retail Banking Platforms and VC Trends 2025
Trust compounds the issue. An EY study found that only 42% of consumers trust financial institutions to manage AI in their best interest, while 30% say they do not trust them at all. That leaves a net trust level of just 12%. In Canada, regulators are focused on consumer protection, and fintechs that build trust into their AI systems could gain an edge.
How DBS and HSBC Set Benchmarks for Agentic AI Governance
Leading institutions are building playbooks worth watching. DBS Bank in Singapore applies its PURE framework (Purposeful, unsurprising, respectful, and easy) to explain all customer facing AI systems. If performance metrics breach preset limits, a kill switch halts the system in real time. As DBS’s Nimish Panchmatia warns, “Agentic AI is a continuous journey. If done properly, there’s significant value at the end of it. But you have to persevere.”
HSBC maintains a detailed inventory of AI systems tied to business owners, risk classifications, and model documentation to create a governance baseline across 200,000 employees in more than 50 markets.
See: H1 2025 Global Fintech Funding Slows, Some Sectors Firing
For Canadian banks and fintechs, these approaches show the value of aligning governance and technical innovation before scaling widely.
Outlook
Banks in Asia, Europe, and the U.S. are experimenting with AI at pace, and many are moving from pilots to enterprise adoption. For Canada, efficiency and risk controls are only part of the story. The real differentiator will be who earns the confidence of consumers while scaling responsibly. Agile fintechs can seize this opening. Unlike large banks weighed down by legacy systems and regulatory complexity, fintechs can design AI solutions that are transparent, accountable, and 'trust first' from the start.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create aa vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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