Linking AI KPIs to Good Governance
The good news is that some financial leaders already prioritize KPIs tying AI to capital efficiency, control strength, revenue quality and operational resilience.
“KPIs that are linked to governance and enterprisewide value realization, not just efficiency, matter just as much if not more in the broader picture of enabling sustainable value,” Holland says.
KPMG found that smaller organizations with lean governance, less complex ecosystems with fewer silos and streamlined approvals typically invested more in AI and saw 3.6 times more ROI. Early emerging technology adopters also saw more ROI because they gave themselves more time to refine their strategies. Finally, transformation-focused organizations — those expecting to spend at least 50% of their tech budgets on innovation — saw 3.2 times the ROI, likely due to a compounding effect.
WATCH: Artificial intelligence will drive efficiency for financial institutions in 2026.
Broad Efficiency Claims Fall Flat With Financial Executives
Risk mitigation and accelerated cash flow are two more AI KPIs for financial institutions to consider. Many tech leaders underestimate these factors at first, but they’re “core value drivers,” not side benefits, Holland says.
KPMG found that 69% of tech execs made security, scalability and data standardization trade-offs in an effort to expedite their organization’s digital transformation, neglecting their technical debt and talent gaps in the process. Such oversights introduce unnecessary risks that AI can help address.
The Holistic Evaluation of Language Models’ open academic framework has emerged to help organizations measure the quality, safety and bias of large language models. This, in turn, builds trust and institutional buy-in for LLMs.
“Our view is that trusted AI and strong governance enable scale, allowing AI to be embedded safely into underwriting, claims, compliance and collections — functions directly tied to capital protection and liquidity,” Holland says. “These arguments land far more effectively with financial
executives than broad efficiency claims because they map the institution’s core risk and cash dynamics.”
