Feedzai Index Reveals 13-Point Gap Between Bank Confidence and Actual AI Fraud Readiness

Financial institutions are significantly overestimating their ability to combat AI-driven fraud, according to new research from Feedzai. While senior leaders rate their readiness highly, a 13.3-point gap exists between perception and actual technical capability. For fintech professionals, this discrepancy highlights a critical need to move beyond budget allocation toward solving deep-seated data silos and manual inefficiencies.

What was announced

Feedzai released its Confidence & Capability: The Feedzai Fraud Readiness Index 2026, a comprehensive study surveying more than 1,000 senior fraud leaders across 12 countries. The research reveals a disconnect in the industry: while financial institutions (FIs) gave themselves an average readiness score of 80.2 out of 100, their objective capabilities in AI, data integration, and intelligence sharing resulted in a lower average score of 66.9.

The report identifies manual data collection as the primary bottleneck, with 73% of fraud analysts spending excessive time pulling information from disparate systems rather than investigating threats. Furthermore, only 41% of institutions have successfully connected data across their fraud, anti-money laundering (AML), compliance, and cybersecurity departments. Despite these operational hurdles, 96% of leaders expect their budgets for AI-powered fraud tools to increase over the next two years.

Geographically, the report found that scams—where criminals manipulate customers into authorizing payments—are now the leading cause of fraud losses in 10 of the 12 countries surveyed. In response, 87% of institutions indicated they would consider sharing fraud intelligence with direct competitors. Currently, only 25.5% of institutions qualify as "leading" with a readiness score of 76 or higher. While 68% of FIs are exploring or using agentic AI for multiple fraud use cases, trust in autonomous decision-making remains a significant hurdle. Beginning October 22, institutions will be able to use a self-assessment tool to measure themselves against the Index sample.

"Banks aren't short on ambition or budget. What's holding them back is inefficiency: data that doesn't connect and analysts spending their day hunting for information instead of stopping fraud with modern technology such as AI. Criminals don't target one bank at a time, so the industry can't defend itself one bank at a time either. The fact that most institutions would consider sharing intelligence with their competitors shows how much has changed in the fight against fraud."

Nuno Sebastião, Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Feedzai.

The companies involved

Feedzai is a major player in the financial crime prevention space, specializing in using artificial intelligence and machine learning to manage risk and secure payments. The company has established a significant presence in the global market, providing technology that processes trillions of dollars in transactions to protect some of the world’s largest banks and merchants. Led by Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO Nuno Sebastião, Feedzai has become a frequent point of reference for industry standards regarding AI-native fraud prevention.

The firm’s position in the market is defined by its focus on real-time data processing and the integration of disparate risk functions. By moving beyond traditional rule-based systems, Feedzai aims to provide a unified view of risk that spans across fraud and anti-money laundering workflows. This latest research index reflects the company's ongoing effort to benchmark industry performance against the rapidly evolving tactics of organized financial criminals, particularly as generative AI and automated "agentic" tools become more prevalent in the fraud landscape.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely followed Feedzai’s technological developments and its expanding footprint in global infrastructure. Recently, the company introduced a solution to the manual data problems highlighted in the index; Feedzai Launches Farol: How Agentic AI for Fraud is Automating Bank Risk Operations detailed how the firm is using agentic AI to automate analysis tasks that currently slow down bank staff.

The company has also secured high-profile partnerships, such as when the European Central Bank Concludes a Framework Agreement with Feedzai to Detect and Prevent Fraud for Forthcoming Digital Euro. Additionally, Peoples Group and Feedzai Partner to Secure Canada’s Real-Time Rail Payments, while other collaborations include IT Smart Systems and Feedzai Partner to Secure Digital Banking with AI-Native Fraud Prevention.

What this means

The 13.3-point "readiness gap" suggests a dangerous level of complacency within the executive ranks of global banking. While the willingness of 87% of institutions to share data with competitors marks a historic shift in the industry's defensive posture, the underlying infrastructure remains a liability. The industry is currently in a race where the attackers are more agile in adopting AI than the defenders are at integrating their own internal data. Until banks can bridge the divide between fraud and AML teams, they will continue to fight a fragmented battle against a unified criminal threat. The pressure is now on vendors to prove that agentic AI can actually solve these manual bottlenecks without introducing new risks.