THE STATE OF AI IN AFRICAN BANKING 2026 REPORT
Going Beyond Adoption:
Balancing innovation with returns
The era of largely unconstrained AI experimentation in African banking is giving way to a harder discipline.
Have we reached the end of the AI Honeymoon?
277
Banking executives surveyed
37
Nations represented
5
Defining findings
THE VERDICT IS IN
The question is no longer whether to invest in AI, but what the return on that investment is.
Foreign-exchange pressures, rising cloud costs and tightening data-localisation rules are concentrating minds. The era of unconstrained AI experimentation is giving way to a more disciplined approach, and the results reveal a sector divided between those who measure and those who don't.
The State of AI in African Banking 2026 Report is being published by Backbase in partnership with African Banker. The report is built on unique survey data of 277 professionals active in Africa's banking industry, representing 37 nations in the continent.
PREVIEW OF FINDINGS
82%
Expanding AI spend, without formal ROI tracking
72% v 31%
The accountability gap between vendor-led and in-house deployments
85%
Meeting or exceeding initial projections, for those who measure
50%
Cite legacy integration as the primary internal obstacle
RELEASING NEXT WEEK
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Complete survey findings across 277 leaders and 37 nations
Data analysed from the perspective of different regions and bank size
Full methodology and in-depth insights on AI usage in African banking
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