Risk Management
According to the latest survey released by Gartner on Tuesday, the adoption rate of artificial intelligence among corporate finance teams in 2025 is roughly the same as in 2024, although optimism about the technology has risen. Among 183 surveyed CFOs and senior finance executives, 59% said they use AI within their departments, slightly up from 58% last year. Of those adopters, 67% are more optimistic about AI than they were last year. The research indicates that data literacy, data quality, and skill shortages remain major barriers, while use cases such as knowledge management and accounts payable automation are the most common.
Although companies have established AI usage policies, both executives and employees engage in violations. A Nitro survey found that over two-thirds of C-suite executives recently used unauthorized AI tools, and more than half believe security and compliance implementation is difficult. Shadow AI increases the risk of data breaches, with global average losses exceeding $4 million. Experts point out that insufficient tool practicality is one of the main causes of violations, and adoption should be driven by value rather than coercion.
At an online conference hosted by Financial Executives International (FEI), finance executives from major U.S. companies including Alphabet, Meta, HP, IBM, and ServiceNow shared their organizations' experiences and lessons learned in AI applications. They agreed that AI is already having an impact in corporate finance, but success depends on strategic and disciplined adoption. The conference, held from November 13 to 15, focused on practical use cases of AI in finance functions, emphasizing maintaining a 'human-in-the-loop' approach in deployment, and prioritizing data quality and process optimization sequencing.
In a recent interview at the Money20/20 fintech conference in Las Vegas, Dan Stummer, Managing Director at Protiviti, stated that CFOs have been slow to respond to the exponential growth prospects brought by artificial intelligence, and need to allocate a significant portion of annual spending to technological exploration while accepting the possibility of failure. He cited a MIT survey showing that despite companies investing $30-40 billion in generative AI, 95% of organizations have not seen returns. Stummer advised CFOs to distinguish between 'exploratory portfolios' and 'operational portfolios,' evaluate them with different criteria, and emphasized that if they do not transform, companies will face declining cash flow.
At the recent Money20/20 fintech conference in Las Vegas, SentiLink CEO Naftali Harris stated bluntly that many anti-fraud software solutions fall far short of expectations in practice, making it difficult to withstand the impact of new types of scams such as deepfakes. He warned that over the next 20 to 30 years, fraud and account takeover issues will become increasingly serious, and even with the deployment of AI defenses, the outlook remains bleak. Oscilar CEO Neha Narkhede shared cases where deepfakes have evolved from one-time impersonations into persistent synthetic identities, and emphasized that human-machine collaboration will be key to combating fraud.
Multiple studies show that AI in back-office functions can significantly reduce costs and improve efficiency, such as shortening monthly closing times and accelerating customer inquiry processing. Experts point out that back-office applications are the scenarios where AI value is easiest to quantify, but an MIT survey also reveals that most organizations have yet to benefit from them.
At the Money20/20 fintech conference in Las Vegas, Citadel Credit Union CFO Anand Solanki advised CFOs to avoid being blinded by AI's 'glitter' and instead focus on solving specific problems with clear benchmarks.
After several relatively quiet years, the IPO market is showing strong momentum and optimism. In the first three quarters of 2025, over 160 companies have gone public, surpassing the total for the full year of 2024; the filing pipeline has grown by more than one-third year-over-year. On the insurance side, the D&O underwriting environment remains favorable, and underwriters' interest in IPO business has significantly increased.
At the Money20/20 conference, april CEO Ben Borodach stated that the AI software developed by his company can be embedded in financial applications to accurately analyze clients' tax liabilities. He also cautioned that existing OCR-based solutions have only an 80% success rate, which needs to be raised above 95%, and advised CFOs to consider the long-term nature of technology investments.
A report released by McKinsey this week indicates that the average investment required for companies to bring new businesses to breakeven has decreased from $125 million in 2024 to $77 million this year, while willingness to invest in AI and data-driven businesses has increased. Based on a survey of over 700 executives across 66 countries, the report recommends that CFOs support new ventures through milestone-based financing and portfolio management.