RCS - AccessPay - AccessPay Releases Finance Trends 2026 Report
03/02/2026 10:00
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RNS Number : 8081Q AccessPay 03 February 2026
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AI Rises on the Finance Leadership Agenda as Cost Control Dominates 2026, New
Survey Reveals
MANCHESTER, UK / ACCESS Newswire / February 3, 2026 / AccessPay
(https://pr.report/i3r3) , the leading bank integration provider, today
announced the release of its Finance Trends 2026 report
(https://pr.report/i3r4) , presenting the findings of its annual survey of
finance leaders. In this fourth year of the report, AccessPay reveals marked
sectoral differences between finance teams in financial services firms and
those in corporates with regards to their priorities and attitudes to
technology adoption.
Key findings from the report include:
1. Finance leaders are prioritising finance efficiency and cost control
Finance teams across all sectors are placing renewed emphasis on efficiency
and cost control in 2026. 47% of general corporates cited this as a priority,
a goal shared by 46% of financial services firms.
Although cost control is a perennial concern in financial management, sluggish
economic growth, rising costs, and geopolitical turmoil have brought it to the
fore. Finance leaders are being pushed to do more with less, which also means
there is greater interest in adopting advanced technologies; 47% of general
corporates and 43% of financial services firms stated they were prioritising
the adoption of AI within the coming 18 months.
2. Financial services firms are pulling ahead in finance transformation
In both the financial services (29%) and general corporate (24%) sectors, a
leading pack of firms report that their finance function has a high degree of
automation and integration across all back-office systems.
Beyond this, there is a stark dichotomy between the financial and
non-financial segments. 45% of financial services firms stated they were
advanced in their finance transformation efforts, where most finance processes
are automated. In comparison, 41% of corporates stated finance transformation
efforts were progressing, with partial automation and manual workarounds. This
highlights that there are still many quick wins to be realised in the
corporate space through simple automation based on bank connectivity.
3. Insufficient budget is a bigger barrier to AI adoption for corporates
Financial services firms are much more likely to have invested in AI for
finance operations than general corporates. 46% of financial services firms
report having implemented AI enhancements to a high degree, compared to 28% of
corporates.
Both financial and non-financial sectors faced common barriers to AI adoption,
including a lack of internal expertise and resistance to cultural change.
However, corporates were far more likely to cite insufficient budget as an
issue with 31% raising this as a barrier, compared to 17% of financial
services firms.
"The disparities between the financial and non-financial sectors in terms of
their attitudes towards technology investment are striking," comments Anish
Kapoor, CEO of AccessPay. "Longer-term, the underinvestment in general
corporates could backfire. In the current macroeconomic environment, finance
teams will need to stress-test plans to ensure they can operate at the low end
of their scenarios. This is why we predict 2026 will be a key year for
automation in payment and treasury operations. If finance departments are to
operate with reduced headcount or scale without increasing staff, leaders also
need to consider how to make up that shortfall with technology."
Download the full report here (https://pr.report/i3r5) to learn more about
digital transformation in finance operations and how bank connectivity
solutions can help automate payments and bank statement data flows.
About AccessPay's Finance Trends Survey
AccessPay's Finance Trends 2026 Survey was conducted online during October
2025. The aggregated results are based on 130 respondents from various
sectors, including financial services, legal, retail, manufacturing and
utilities. Findings for the financial services sector are based on 84
respondents across banking and insurance, while corporate findings are based
on 54 respondents. A small proportion of companies is classified in both
segments. Typical job titles of respondents include (Deputy) Finance Director,
Financial Systems Manager, Head of Treasury, and Head of Managed Services.
About AccessPay
AccessPay is a leading provider of bank integration solutions, pioneering
finance transformation for the Office of the CFO. AccessPay helps finance and
treasury teams modernise their operations through secure, cloud-based bank
connectivity.
Our platform connects back-office systems to banks, enabling the automated
flow and transformation of payment, bank statement and other financial data.
Thousands of businesses around the world partner with AccessPay to automate
supplier and client payments, Direct Debit collections, and bank statement
retrieval - improving efficiency, reducing fraud risk, and gaining real-time
cash visibility.
Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Manchester, UK, AccessPay is trusted by
global enterprises to automate finance and treasury operations and build a
future-ready Office of the CFO.
· Website: www.accesspay.com (https://pr.report/i3r6)
· Follow us on LinkedIn: AccessPay (https://pr.report/i3r7)
Press contacts:
Chanda Shingadia, The Comms Crowd
Email: chanda@commscrowd.com (mailto:chanda@commscrowd.com)
Phone: +44 (0)7951 163 61
SOURCE: AccessPay
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