Financial services organisations are operating in a period of profound transformation. Macroeconomic uncertainty, rising compliance demands, increasing fraud risk, shifting customer expectations and a rapidly ageing workforce are all reshaping how banks, insurers and capital markets firms must operate. At the same time, regulatory frameworks are accelerating the need for transparent, secure and well-governed technology adoption.
Against this backdrop, many financial institutions are turning to agentic AI to strengthen resilience, accelerate key processes, transform the customer experience, and unlock new opportunities for growth.
What agentic AI enables
Agentic AI represents a step change from traditional analytics, automation and generative AI. Rather than completing isolated tasks, agents can reason, act and orchestrate multistep processes with minimal human intervention—accessing data, executing workflows and adapting to new conditions. When deployed responsibly, this enables financial institutions to improve efficiency and accuracy while maintaining essential human oversight for high-stake decisions.
Business value across financial services
By taking over complex workflows from start to finish, agentic AI reduces cycle times from days to minutes, minimises manual effort and errors, and enables specialists to focus on activities that require more judgement. It also embeds controls and audit trails directly into operations, helping institutions to stay compliant and preserve critical expertise as their workforces age.
"Every AI transformation succeeds or stalls on the strength of its data. Governance turns fragmented information into dependable insight, and a well-architected cloud platform turns pilots into platforms. Together they let you scale AI responsibly, across functions, markets and regulatory environments."
Prafull Sharma, Partner Technology Strategy & Transformation FS, PwC Switzerland, Co-AuthorThe impact of agentic AI is already visible across the industry. In banking, the most immediate value is emerging in financial crime, regulatory compliance, customer engagement and lending. Agentic AI is also having a significant impact in the insurance industry, transforming underwriting, claims, customer service and workforce sustainability. Capital markets organisations are leveraging agentic AI for high value analytical and operational activities like analysis and scenario modeling. And in private equity and investment operations, agents accelerate due diligence, surface operational risks across portfolios and enhance client advisory with real-time, personalised insights.
A seven-step journey to agentic AI value
Explore key steps and considerations for your agentic AI transformation in our playbook created with experienced industry leaders who share their perspectives and extensive client experiences. Learn how to progress from early experimentation to a scalable agentic AI model that delivers measurable value across your organisation.
1. Prioritise value chain impact
2. Raise AI fluency and confidence
3. Establish your operating model and CoE
4. Create a modern, scalable tech foundation
5. Address data security, privacy and compliance
6. Embed trust and responsible AI
7. Connect with the right partners
"As our own Client Zero, PwC has successfully deployed Copilot to over 230,000 users in 100+ countries. This large-scale rollout improved productivity, collaboration, and trust. Drawing on these lessons, we help clients achieve similar results through responsible, secure, and scalable AI transformation rooted in strong governance and Microsoft’s technology."
Mauro Xavier, EMEA Microsoft Alliance Leader, Partner, PwC SpainRead more about our Client Zero project.
Ready to accelerate your agentic AI transformation?
Take the first step toward operationalising agentic AI. Download the PwC and Microsoft playbook to unlock autonomous workflows, build trusted AI capabilities and accelerate value across your financial services organisation.
