Global report: Financial services disruption

Disruption is the new normal—and financial services leaders are adapting

Drawing on insights from nearly 800 senior leaders worldwide, Financial futures: Leading through disruption shows how financial services companies are responding to industry-shaping forces, including:

• Geopolitics and trade
• Digitalization and AI
• Rising regulatory expectations
• Sustainability

It offers practical guidance to help companies manage risk, adapt strategy, and move forward with confidence.

Watch the insights come to life

Hear perspectives from DLA Piper’s Global Financial Services leaders and former United States Ambassador Marc Grossman, Vice Chair of The Cohen Group, on the trends accelerating disruption and practical strategies for what comes next.

The survey findings show that geopolitical dynamics are no longer being experienced as isolated shocks. They’re persistent conditions that are reshaping regulation, cross-border capital flows, operating models and strategic decision-making.

Geopolitical factors affecting financial services firms

• Regulation has shifted from a one-off compliance exercise to a continuous operating imperative. Businesses are focused on maintaining governance, data integrity and reporting as the rules evolve.
• The regulatory burden has changed. Fewer leaders are struggling to interpret rules; many more cite managing ongoing compliance as having a significant impact.
• Keeping pace with the speed of regulatory change is now the dominant challenge, overtaking complexity as the biggest friction point across ESG, digitalization and AI legislation.
• Regulatory divergence is increasing, requiring businesses to maintain consistent outcomes while adapting to different local rules – which is driving investment in scalable governance architectures.

Aspects of managing compliance with the greatest expected impact

• AI is delivering tangible value for financial services companies, with fraud detection generating the greatest value over the past 12 months.
• Data privacy, cybersecurity and ethical use dominate the AI risk landscape.
• Cost pressures and access to skilled talent are the most significant constraints on scaling AI.
• Businesses are responding by investing in core AI technology, upskilling existing teams, and embedding governance and ethical frameworks.

AI use cases with the most impact on your business in the past 12 months?

• Sustainability is still a strategic priority: organizations increased ESG spend in 2025 as they pressed forward with the sustainability agenda.
• Sustainable finance remains a clear opportunity. Investment is flowing towards projects that provide measurable outputs and withstand scrutiny.
• But the challenge has shifted from complexity to pace. Keeping up with the speed of change is now the dominant sustainability challenge; concerns over data product innovation have eased.
• Worries about reputational and litigation risk have also receded, as businesses strengthen controls – suggesting sustainability efforts have entered a maturer phase.

Change in Sustainability/ESG spending 2024-5