Accenture's banking lead: bank AI spending is FOMO-driven, and ROI still isn't measured
Banks spent more than $40B on AI last year, but only about 20% of leaders report seeing widespread, sustained value -- individual productivity gains aren't translating into system-wide returns because workflows haven't actually been restructured.
Accenture's global banking lead Mike Abbott said in reporting published September 10, 2026 that banks' AI spending exceeded $40 billion last year, but only about 20% of bank leaders report seeing widespread, sustained value from it. Individual productivity gains -- Abbott cites 10-15% per person in many cases -- aren't translating into system-wide return on investment, because most banks haven't actually restructured the workflows around the AI they've deployed.
Naming the dynamic behind the spend
Abbott's diagnosis of why banks keep spending anyway: "banks are pretty good at copying each other." That's a named consulting executive, at the firm advising many of these banks, stating plainly that fear of falling behind competitors -- not a measured ROI case -- is driving a meaningful share of a $40 billion-plus spend category.
The exact gap Merit AC exists to measure
A 10-15% individual productivity gain that never shows up in system-wide numbers is precisely the failure mode this site's own scoring model is built to catch -- real per-person output that doesn't translate into value because the surrounding process was never redesigned to use it. For finance leaders reading this, the practical takeaway is direct: the return isn't in the model, it's in whether the workflow around it actually changed.