Finance Desk

CFOs lag on the AI curve, risking the growth and value creation they want, EY warns.

CFOs are sitting on a goldmine of tech potential—but most aren’t ready to dig in. That’s the major takeaway from a new Ernst & Young survey titled the DNA of the CFO.

Finance chiefs want to make investment decisions and create value. Yet, the majority of these bosses remain constrained by skills gaps, limited AI readiness and outdated measurement frameworks.

The London-based accounting firm sourced responses from more than 1,600 CFOs and senior finance leaders across 28 countries and 22 industries. The consensus shows a widening gap between CFO ambition and actually getting the job done.

“While CFO ambitions are clear, there’s quite a gap when it comes to execution,” Myles Corson, EY Global Strategy and Markets Leader for Financial Accounting Advisory Services, told Global Finance.

Consider the numbers: 60% of CFOs wish to lead on value creation, but only about a quarter currently guide value-creation discussions or make key investment decisions.

Another finding from the EY CFO survey reinforces that disconnect: Only 27% of respondents say their organizations view finance as a key partner in value creation.

“Organizations that treat finance as a key partner have a common trait: their finance functions demonstrate insight beyond the ‘comfort zone’ of financial performance,” Corson said. “They are also more actively involved in decisions—and it’s this that builds their reputation as valuable business partners.”

AI: What Must Change

A majority of respondents (68%) also say the definition of enterprise value needs to change. This reflects frustration with traditional metrics that fail to capture newer sources of growth. Nearly half (49%) say conventional measurement tools cannot adequately reflect value created by technology, data and long-term investments, while half (50%) cite difficulty in demonstrating upfront returns on investment.

The report also points to significant barriers in AI adoption across finance functions. Only 21% of CFOs say their organization’s AI readiness is “leading” or “advanced,” while fewer than 15% describe their teams as highly adaptable or confident using new technologies. Less than half of CFOs see strong AI potential in areas such as data analysis (49%), growth forecasting (45%), and dynamic pricing (41%).

However, confidence rises sharply among those further along the maturity curve: 71% of CFOs who describe their organizations as fully AI-ready say the technology can meaningfully support growth forecasting.

Finance teams continue to face structural hurdles in scaling AI, with 61% citing poor data quality, 51% struggling to articulate AI’s benefits clearly, and 50% reporting insufficient skills or capacity to use the technology fully.

Leadership Challenges

The survey also highlights talent pool challenges within finance organizations. About 38% of CFOs say they are evolving faster than their wider finance leadership teams, and 68% of CFOs say they require new leadership styles and skills to remain effective.

Just 12% of CFOs say their transformation outcomes exceeded expectations. Organizations with highly adaptable teams are three times more likely to achieve successful transformation outcomes, so leaders who foster a culture of adaptability and continuous learning are more likely to drive differentiated outcomes.

“For finance leaders, one of the key questions is: What is the right balance between specialist and generalist roles?” Corson said.

In the current high-tech environment of continuous change, generalists with broad experience are increasingly important.

“Finance leaders need to assess how to consistently develop broader skills, whether through rotations or other structured programs, including the opportunity to develop collaboration skills across functions,” Corson added. “Future finance leaders will need to be more than simply stronger technicians: they will need to demonstrate the skills of a complete enterprise leader—financial discipline, strategic thinking, technological fluency, and the ability to lead change.”

Contact the author: anoto@gfmag.com

A $60B tech acquisition marks the aggressive start of SpaceX’s post-IPO capital strategy.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. — more commonly known as SpaceX — is not letting proceeds from the largest initial public offering in history sit on the launchpad, and piquing the Street’s curiosity on its cash management strategy.

The day after its IPO trades settled, the company, which added approximately $75 billion to its roughly $15.85 billion pre-IPO cash position, announced plans to acquire AI coding company Cursor in a $60 billion all-stock deal that is expected to close in the third quarter, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

SpaceX first announced it had secured the right to buy Cursor in April but held off due to its upcoming IPO, Bloomberg News reported.

The company did not respond to a request for comment.

The rocket-launch, connectivity, artificial intelligence (AI), and social media company’s IPO placed it in the top 10 U.S.-listed companies by market capitalization, roughly $2.1 trillion. It also placed it fifth among the U.S. companies with the largest cash positions. It trails only behind Berkshire Hathaway Inc. ($397.38 billion), Amazon.com Inc. ($145.97 billion), Alphabet Inc. ($126.84 billion), and Interactive Brokers Group Inc. ($100.39 billion), according to TradingView data. 

Cash Management and IPO Proceeds

The company has not detailed whether it plans to use the newfound capital to fund growth, reduce risk, repay debt, or preserve option value. With a $2.1 trillion market cap and near-guarantee to be included in the marquee stock indices, does it truly matter?

“What SpaceX does with cash and its capital structure are rounding errors in its valuation,” Aswath Damodaran, of New York University’s Stern School of Business, told Global Finance.

However, the treasury still has an important part to play, said John Graham, finance professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

“There are examples of companies that grew too fast,” he said. “They were on a positive trajectory with their strategies, but did not manage their cash appropriately and went bankrupt.”

Graham noted that he was not privy to SpaceX’s capital allocation plans, but typically sees two typical uses for IPO proceeds, depending on the company’s maturity.

Startups often use their newfound cash to fuel their drive to profitability while keeping the lights on. Profitable companies tend to use their windfalls to let founders, early investors, and employees cash out a bit.

“Both of those are probably happening in this case, just on a larger scale,” he said.

Neither Fish nor Fowl

Investors can view SpaceX as a mixture of mature and startup business lines. The company’s Starlink satellite-based Internet connectivity unit is currently the only unit generating profits on roughly $11.39 billion in revenue, according to its prospectus.

Whether that, combined with its IPO proceeds, is enough to subsidize its AI and other businesses remains to be seen, and raises a broader question about how SpaceX and the ‘Elon Premium’ will test the market’s logic.

“As things stand today, investors are essentially buying a company whose core business is launching satellites, which remains its largest source of revenue,” said  Ismael García Puente, Deputy Director of Investment Strategy at Spanish investment manager Mapfre AM. “Its technology and AI-related businesses are still operating at a loss. We need to see how these segments evolve before we can assess their long-term profitability.”

Contact the author: rdaly@gfmag.com

Hong Kong’s first biodiversity loan backs Henderson Land’s ambitious green waterfront transformation.

Henderson Land Development secured Hong Kong’s first biodiversity loan from HSBC and Hang Seng Bank to develop the city’s quarter-mile-long waterfront property.

The Central Yards project is the company’s flagship mixed-use development on the harborfront in the Central Business District. Although the loan amount remains undisclosed, local reports estimate it at HK$100 million ($12.8 million). 

In mid-May, the two banks said the loan would provide a “scalable blueprint” for companies to achieve their sustainability goals and enhance Hong Kong’s position as a leading international sustainable finance center, helping companies integrate ecological and urban development.

The move aligns with what a growing number of Asia-based businesses want. HSBC’s latest sustainability survey found that 60% of Asian businesses now regard climate transition as a primary strategic focus.

400 Trees, 280 Native Plants

The funding would support smart systems to manage and maintain a newly created urban forest with more than 400 trees and 280 native plant species planted at several sites along the “New Central Harbourfront.” It would also cover surveys, assessments, and monitoring of the project’s urban biodiversity, Henderson said in a mid-May statement, along with HSBC and Hang Seng.

Central Yards boasts more than 300,000 square feet of open green space, including the district’s largest elevated garden, which spans more than 160,000 square feet. The first phase of the project should open in the second half of 2027, with the second phase tentatively scheduled for completion in 2032.

Jane Street Asia will be Central Yards’ anchor tenant. The quantitative trading firm signed a lease in June 2025 for 223,437 square feet in the building at HK$137 per square foot per month (HK$30.6 million per month), excluding fees. The deal ranks among the largest leasing transactions in Central in the decades since Hong Kong’s 1997 Handover and the resumption of mainland Chinese rule over the former British colony. Henderson paid a record-setting HK$50.8 billion for a 50-year land grant to the prime site in 2021.

Vacancy rates for premium Hong Kong office space marginally increased to 13.5% in March, up from 13.4% the month before. 

This article appears in the June 2026 issue of Global Finance Magazine.

Labs are rethinking banking, as AI remains king, but human insight directs banking improvements.

So, the robot banker remains a long way off. But S&P Global estimates that up to 59% of financial institutions worldwide were actively using artificial intelligence in 2025. Beyond simply relying on technology for research (“Summarize new anti-money laundering mandates for me”), financial institutions have begun operationalizing AI processes.

This is a significant advancement. Instead of using AI like an intelligent chatbot, banks now direct systems to perform complex, multi-step tasks—saving untold human hours while both speeding up and improving operations.

How does this newer type of AI (called “agentic AI”) work?

Consider loan processing as an example. Someone applies for a loan. AI agents retrieve credit reports, verify income, calculate debt-to-income ratios, apply underwriting rules, approve or reject applications (or forward them to a human underwriter for approval), and generate documentation. In compliance monitoring, agents can read regulatory texts, map new mandates to internal policies and processes, identify where the financial institution (FI) falls short, generate remediation tasks, and track progress.

For proof of the increased operationalization of AI, look at some of the innovations germinated in the world’s best fintech labs, incubators, and accelerators.

At inovabra, a lab hosted by Banco Bradesco, innovators have developed an AI product that can generate initial drafts of legal pleadings. The Bank of Georgia’s AI Research Lab has launched Software Developer: Powered by Code2Doc.

This software can write other software. And Garanti BBVA Partners has nurtured Skymod, an AI-orchestration platform that enables financial institutions to securely delegate operational workflows to intelligent AI agents.

Knowing When AI Isn’t The Answer

Then there’s TD Lab. TD Lab is now experimenting with Physical AI, or AI-embedded machines (think robots, drones, and smart devices) capable of interacting with the physical world.

“Physical AI is about convergence,” said Chris Halabecki, senior manager and lab leader. “It’s about combining AI with objects that can sense or maneuver through the real world. As a lab team, we’re exploring how we can use physical AI to integrate more intelligence into everyday scenarios to better serve our colleagues and clients today and in the future.”

The lab has already developed proprietary software for a quadruped (robotic dog) device. Using LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), which is a sensing technology that uses pulsed laser light to measure distances, and AI together, the quadruped can detect and learn about objects in the surrounding area, then follow commands linked to those objects. Halabecki provided examples such as “Walk to the white couch” and “Go find Evan.”

Future use cases for these technologies may include robots that can count, sort, and verify cash.

One day, robotic relationship managers may recognize when a customer walks into a branch and guide them in making investment decisions. In the field, physical AI may be able to conduct home appraisals and complete other tasks.

With the much-ballyhooed capabilities of artificial intelligence, it’s a little surprising to hear Kadry Boutaina, chief of innovation for the digital transformation lab of Morocco’s Attijariwafa bank, say, “Sometimes, the answer is not AI.”

That doesn’t mean the lab, called Wenov, isn’t driving technological advancements. It works with external startups to offer “more and more digital services for our customers — both retail and business.” Boutaina notes that Attijariwafa faces significant competition in this field, from both established banks and newcomers — notably neobanks entering the Moroccan and broader West African markets.

But providing digital services does not always entail a wholesale AI revolution.

When Banks Let Employees Innovate

The Moroccan Ministry of Economy and Finance recently formalized laws governing crowdfunding in the country. The first regulated platform of this kind is being provided by Kiwi Collecte, a fintech company. Under Moroccan law, Kiwi Collecte may not directly hold or move funds. It must partner with a licensed Moroccan bank for those tasks. A partnership with Attijariwafa empowers the bank to hold and safeguard funds, process payments, and disburse money to beneficiaries.

Fraud prevention is ever important. Sandbox CAIXA has found an old-school way to fight it. Sandbox CAIXA is the innovation lab of Caixa Econômica Federal, a major state-owned bank in Brazil. Lucas Zaccaro, Sandbox CAIXA manager, said that in his country, technologically unsophisticated people are often victimized by scammers. When the bank is closed, thieves stand near ATMs. They then offer to help patrons who are unsure how to use the machines. These criminals “help” by tricking users into revealing their PINs, then stealing their cards.

A “really great idea” from a rank-and-file Caixa employee led the bank to broadcast recorded messages at 10 of these ATMs, warning patrons about the scam. Theft at those banks has stopped.

Zaccaro says that this fraud-prevention idea was submitted through an established process designed to encourage rank-and-file employees to submit innovative ideas. Employees use Microsoft Copilot to refine their concepts and submit them to Sandbox CAIXA for review and potential testing. The lab will now assess the feasibility of rolling out its scam warning across the ATM network—potentially using cameras to detect when people are at the ATM and triggering automated messages.

At the Banking and Financial Institutions Association of Colombia (Asobancaria), the focus is less on rapidly advancing technologies and more on meeting existing societal needs. One development from the Asobancaria Social Innovation Lab is a reference framework for identifying, classifying, and reporting on the banking sector’s social portfolios. This proposal—the second of its kind in Latin America after Guatemala’s Social Taxonomy—was developed through multiple sessions of analysis, technical feedback, and sector-wide validation with member institutions. To create this framework, Asobancaria worked closely with the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), which develops social-portfolio standards aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Andrea Guzmán, GGGI’s sustainable finance officer, said the problem with sustainability reporting among Asobancaria member banks was a lack of alignment on standards, with each bank setting its own measures of success for its social portfolios.

The framework addresses issues such as financial inclusion, social infrastructure, affordable housing, and services for small and medium-size businesses. A single framework to which all member banks agree “improves transparency,” Guzmán says. “It supports better decision-making by investors and helps mobilize more resources for our social sector. It’s a framework we can base bonds on. It’s a framework that helps banks avoid accusations of greenwashing.”

Consider the framework for sustainable and affordable housing. Guzmán notes that in rural Columbia, many houses lack access to water and may have only dirt floors. Therefore, a bank could claim success in affordable housing if it funded units with wood floors, fully plumbed and connected to the electrical grid. But what if those apartments are so far from public transportation that no one can get to work or school? Guzmán said that under the framework, banks agree that any affordable housing projects they fund would have access to the nation’s external infrastructure and social services.

Here’s a closer look at some of the world’s best fintech labs and the innovations they’re nurturing.

Central bank bottlenecks and massive import costs delay the impact of a $4B windfall.

War-torn Libya is pumping oil at its fastest pace in more than a decade, averaging about 1.4 million barrels per day in April, according to National Oil Corp. operating data.

Still, refining capacity, distribution networks, and subsidy-financed imports remain strained by years of institutional division since the 2011 conflict, when production fell sharply from about 1.5 million barrels per day to near-collapse levels during the civil war.

The imbalance reflects Libya’s fragmented downstream system, where crude oil exports continue but refining capacity, distribution networks, and subsidy-financed imports remain strained by years of institutional disruption since the 2011 uprising and the overthrow of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi, when production fell sharply.

Tracking Libya’s Hydrocarbon Windfall

The state-owned NOC reported $2.82 billion in gross oil revenue in April, followed by nearly $4 billion in May, the highest monthly intake in over 10 years, according to local energy reports citing official data. Crude flows through Es Sider, Ras Lanuf, and Zawiya terminals into Mediterranean markets, where it is priced against Brent-linked benchmarks.

Translating stronger production and upstream earnings into direct benefits to the state and its people remains challenging, however.

The May surge coincided with a sharp increase in fuel imports; NOC Chairman Masoud Suleman confirmed the contracting of 17 gasoline tankers, the highest monthly fuel import volume in Libya’s history. Even as import activity rose, several cities in western Libya reported fuel shortages and long queues at filling stations, exposing persistent breakdowns in domestic distribution.

The cash conversion of oil earnings is still structurally uneven. In April, only $1.91 billion of $2.82 billion in gross revenue reached the Central Bank of Libya after fuel-import and settlement deductions routed through the Libyan Foreign Bank mechanism. That left roughly $910 million stuck within upstream settlement layers awaiting final transfer into the sovereign liquidity system.

On June 3, the central bank launched a $3.5 billion foreign currency allocation program to cover letters of credit (LOCs), foreign transfers, and retail foreign-currency demand, according to Libyan financial disclosures, amid persistent import financing pressure on food, fuel, and industrial inputs.

Central Bank at the Center of Fiscal Fault Line

The central bank sits at the center of this fiscal roundelay. It is the sole legal recipient of hydrocarbon revenues and converts inflows into domestic liquidity for salaries, imports, and foreign exchange allocations, making it the clearing hub for the national economy.

That role has repeatedly placed it at the center of political escalation. Last August, a dispute over central bank leadership triggered a production shutdown in the eastern half of the country that quickly cut output from nearly 959,000 barrels per day to 591,000, according to NOC data. The United Nations Support Mission in Libya warned that disruption of the central bank’s clearing function would freeze LOCs and salary payments, given that hydrocarbons account for more than 90% of export earnings.

The underlying political structure remains split between the UN-backed Government of National Unity in Tripoli and the Government of National Stability based in Benghazi and Tobruk in the east; UN mediation is ongoing, but national elections remain stalled. A rare shift occurred on April 11, however, when the rival eastern and western legislative bodies signed a landmark agreement to unify public spending, creating Libya’s first consolidated budget framework since 2013.

Foreign Majors Return as Political Risk Persists