Report by Bank Director

2026 Risk Survey

15 FINDINGSPublished Oct 1, 2023
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Key Findings

38% of bank leaders believe their primary regulator was understaffed or otherwise underresourced.

Bank Director2026 Risk Survey·2y ago
Financial ServicesRegulatory OversightBanking

36% of bank leaders cite overreliance on one individual or function as a common gap found in tabletop cybersecurity exercises.

Bank Director2026 Risk Survey·2y ago
Financial ServicesOperational RiskIncident ResponseTabletop Exercises

35% of bank leaders cite internal communications as a common gap found in tabletop cybersecurity exercises.

Bank Director2026 Risk Survey·2y ago
Financial ServicesCommunicationsIncident ResponseTabletop Exercises

84% of bank leaders are concerned about fraud and scams targeting their customers.

Bank Director2026 Risk Survey·2y ago
Financial ServicesBank FraudFraudScams

53% of bank leaders believe their bank could take more strategic risk.

Bank Director2026 Risk Survey·2y ago
Financial ServicesStrategic RiskBanking

79% of bank CEOs, board members, chief risk officers and senior executives are concerned about fraud.

Bank Director2026 Risk Survey·2y ago
Financial ServicesBanking FraudRisk Management

54% of banks employ a chief risk officer.

Bank Director2026 Risk Survey·2y ago
Financial ServicesRisk ManagementBankingChief Risk Officer

77% of bank leaders are concerned about fraud and scams targeting their employees and organization.

Bank Director2026 Risk Survey·2y ago
Financial ServicesEmployee RiskBanking FraudScams

37% of bank leaders report heightened attention to cybersecurity during regulatory exams, up from 30% in 2025.

Bank Director2026 Risk Survey·2y ago
Financial ServicesRegulatory OversightBankingRegulatory Exams

79% of board chairs and independent directors say the board reviews and approves the bank’s cybersecurity strategy.

Bank Director2026 Risk Survey·2y ago
Financial ServicesBanking Cybersecurity StrategyBoard Oversight

47% of directors say the board invited outside experts to speak about cybersecurity trends over the past 12 months.

Bank Director2026 Risk Survey·2y ago
Financial ServicesBoard EducationBanking Cybersecurity Trends

89% of bank CEOs and technology executives say their bank conducted a tabletop exercise of its cybersecurity incident response plan in the prior 12 months.

Bank Director2026 Risk Survey·2y ago
Financial ServicesIncident ResponseTabletop Exercises

20% of bank leaders believe their bank or its customers were impacted by fraud involving AI or deepfake media in the prior 18 months.

Bank Director2026 Risk Survey·2y ago
Financial ServicesDeepfakesAI FraudBanking Fraud

One-third of bank leaders say they do not understand agentic AI at all.

Bank Director2026 Risk Survey·2y ago
Financial ServicesAI

28% of bank leaders cite regulatory risk as a top concern, down from 55% a year earlier.

Bank Director2026 Risk Survey·2y ago
Financial ServicesRegulatory Risk