Executive Summary
Financial services companies have rapidly progressed in AI use, shifting from AI pilots and limited use cases to accountability. Firms are increasingly focused on measurable business value, with 68% of financial services respondents reporting quantifiable positive ROI from generative AI.
Agentic AI is emerging as the next frontier, but governance will determine who scales it safely. While 30% of financial services firms have agentic AI in production, those using it report strong outcomes in analytics, forecasting, customer interactions and process automation — making controls around permissions, auditability, oversight and data access essential.
AI is delivering positive workforce change — not just automation. Leading financial services companies lead other industries in positive workforce impact, with 78% of respondents saying AI-powered automation has had a net positive job impact.
Proprietary data is becoming the foundation of competitive AI advantage. Ninety-two percent of financial services firms are training, tuning or augmenting large language models with proprietary data, underscoring the importance of trusted, governed enterprise data in creating differentiated AI outcomes.
For financial services leaders, the AI conversation has changed quickly. The question is no longer whether artificial intelligence will fundamentally reshape the industry. It already is. The more important question now is how financial services companies can turn AI into measurable business value while maintaining the trust, governance, security and control the industry requires.
New Snowflake research shows that financial services firms are entering a more mature stage of AI adoption. While individual firms vary on their adoption maturity, they are quantifying ROI, using proprietary data, applying AI to high-value enterprise workflows and beginning to capture early benefits from agentic AI.
The result is a compelling picture of an industry that has rapidly moved from AI curiosity to AI accountability.
AI is already creating a positive workforce impact
One of the most striking findings in the research is that financial services lead all compared industries in positive workforce impact from AI-powered automation. The compared industries include advertising and media; healthcare and life sciences; manufacturing; retail and CPG; and tech and telco.
Seventy-eight percent of financial services respondents say AI-powered automation has had a net positive job impact. That is higher than tech and telco at 75%, healthcare and life sciences at 69%, advertising and media at 68%, manufacturing at 68.1%, and retail and CPG at 61%.