Wolters Kluwer’s Banking Landscape Transformation Index tracks trends across Q1 and Q2 2026 to show ongoing industry efforts
Examining how senior U.S. banking leaders are responding to a rapidly changing operating environment shaped by capital pressure, fraud risk, AI governance, and accelerating regulatory expectations, Wolters Kluwer Financial & Corporate Compliance today released the Q2 2026 Banking Landscape Transformation Index. Showcasing responses from banking leaders across the United States, the report breaks down data that spans Q1 and Q2 insights from those on the frontline of change in the banking industry.
"At the half point of the year we are seeing financial institutions settle into the rapidly changing landscape – taking a more disciplined approach to their business models, technology infrastructure and risk controls,” said Simon Moir, Vice President, Banking Compliance Solutions, Wolters Kluwer Financial & Corporate Compliance. “Our data shows that capital efficiency, digitization, and stronger governance are the foundations for long-term growth and resilience. As these institutions continue to refine their focus and finalize where development dollars will go, it shows us what the roadmap into 2027 may become.”
Key findings
Double-pledging is causing heightened concerns. More than half of survey participants, 51.6%, say that double-pledging was a top tier concern for their institution’s leadership and that it was something that they are actively investing in preventative technology for.
Manual collateral processes are slowing capital deployment. Almost half, 46.7%, of survey respondents say manual collateral verification and paper-based Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filing processes slow down capital deployment velocity. An additional 26.2% cite lengthy underwriting and credit committee cycles as their top bottleneck.
AI auditing confidence is on shaky ground. 40.3% of those surveyed said they are “somewhat confident” and have basic audit trails in place if their AI models for credit or fraud faced a continuous data feed audit by regulators. An additional 28.6% said they are not ready and only 19.1% said they are very confident.
Asset recovery timelines wildly vary. In a scenario where an asset must be liquidated, 20.7% of banking leaders said their recovery timeline was 1-7 days. Compare this to the 18.9% of respondents who said it would take 180 or more days and a heavy reliance on litigation and manual recovery.
Fee-based revenue is ‘high priority’. Reflecting a structural shift away from reliance on net interest margins toward transaction based revenue models, banks are looking for additional income streams. While a combined 74.6% of respondents still rate fee income as either mission critical or a high priority, this dropped more than ten percentage points from 86.5% between Q1 and Q2.
The Q2 2026 Banking Landscape Transformation Index is the second issuance of a recurring, data-driven survey of senior US banking professionals. This edition captured 225 qualified responses, collected in May–June 2026 across an intentionally broad institutional spectrum.
To learn more about the priorities of US banking leaders, download the full “Q2 2026 Banking Landscape Transformation Index.”