Financial institutions in Hong Kong are accelerating their shift from experimentation to execution in artificial intelligence ( AI ), supported by solid technology foundations and sustained modernization investment, a new study finds.

The Chinese special administrative region ranks among the most AI-ready markets globally, with nine in 10 institutions actively deploying or piloting AI technologies, according to the Financial Services State of the Nation 2026 report from Finastra, a London-based financial services software provider.

AI is already being deployed at scale across major use cases, including customer service and support automation, risk management and fraud detection, agentic AI for workflow automation, credit underwriting and decision-making, marketing, data analysis, and document intelligence, the survey shows.

Top reasons cited by institutions for adopting AI are increasing accuracy and reducing errors, lowering operational costs, improving compliance and regulatory processes, and enhancing risk management frameworks.

Focused on execution

Hong Kong stands as one of the most AI‑confident and execution-focused markets globally. According to the survey, 80% of the institutions in the city report being “prepared” or “fully prepared” for technological transformation.

Financial institutions also report clear strategies for adopting emerging technologies and managing cultural change. Barriers to transformation are comparatively low across the region, with modernization and continuous learning given top priority.

Moreover, cloud usage is highly advanced in Hong Kong, the survey finds. Of the institutions covered by the study, 86% use cloud solutions and 50% run the majority of their software stack in the cloud.

Many institutions have modernized significant portions of their legacy infrastructure, while cloud-first strategies are enabling faster innovation, scalability, and resilience.

Security is another area where Hong Kong excels, according to the survey. Seventy-two percent of respondents rate their organization’s security and reliability posture as ahead or significantly ahead of competitors. Security investment is expected to increase further in 2026.

Customer experience

Hong Kong also ranks among the strongest markets globally for customer experience ( CX ), the study finds. Sixty-five percent of respondents in the city believe that their customer experience and personalization capabilities are ahead of peers, and most institutions plant of increase their CX investment this year.

Looking ahead, 90% of Hong Kong respondents say they are personally excited about the pace of technological and cultural change in financial services, one of the highest optimism levels recorded.

 “Hong Kong institutions are demonstrating what disciplined AI execution looks like at scale,” says Finastra chief executive officer Chris Walters.  “With modern infrastructure and a clear commitment to responsible innovation, they are turning AI from pilot projects into measurable business impact, while maintaining the highest standards of security, trust and customer experience.”

The Financial Services State of the Nation 2026 research surveyed a total of 1,509 managers and executives from banks and financial institutions across 11 countries and regions, including France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom. The United States, and Vietnam.

The survey was conducted by Savanta via an online panel in November 2025.