The geography of AI in finance: Why North American teams are pulling ahead

A Forrester Consulting survey of 1,279 finance decision-makers, commissioned by Airwallex, finds that North American finance teams are ahead of EMEA and much of APAC in deploying AI across multi-step operational workflows, with 37% reporting such use compared with higher rates of limited or no execution in Europe. While planned investment increases are similar across regions, the gap is attributed to differences in connected data infrastructure, computing capacity, regulation, and access to AI talent rather than spending alone. EMEA has the highest reported rate of no AI execution at 28%, with siloed data affecting 58% of its teams, while stricter governance requirements under frameworks such as GDPR and the EU AI Act can lengthen deployment timelines. APAC shows substantial variation, with Hong Kong, Australia, and Singapore more advanced due to consolidated infrastructure, and Singapore reporting the region’s highest autonomous-execution rate. Across all regions, disconnected data is identified as the leading obstacle to scaling AI, and the findings suggest that finance organizations need interoperable systems linking payments, foreign exchange, spending, accounts, and reconciliation before AI can reliably automate complex, cross-border workflows.

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