AI is now the top technology investment priority for Tier 1 and Tier 2 banks and wealth management firms worldwide, with growing enthusiasm around generative and agentic AI. Yet despite strong strategic intent, enterprise-scale adoption continues to face persistent barriers from risk and compliance concerns to unclear business cases and operational complexity.
This report examines the institutional and organizational challenges that stand in the way of scaling AI across banking and wealth management. Drawing on Celent’s 2025 Dimensions Survey, Celent's Model Award Winners, and industry research, it highlights the top blockers to adoption, including risk management, data governance, and system resilience. It also identifies key enablers of success led by the rise of AI Centers of Excellence, stronger alignment between business and technology teams, and a renewed focus on process and operational design.
As firms move beyond experimentation to embed AI in workflows, customer engagement, and product development, this report offers a framework for navigating both the known risks and emerging complexities of GenAI and agentic AI. The path to scalable AI lies not just in better algorithms, but in better business readiness.
