Spend first, measure later: Inside African banking’s AI boom

According to a 2026 report surveying 277 banking executives across 37 African nations, 83.2% of institutions plan to increase their AI spending over the next 12 months. Yet nearly a third do not formally track the return on investment. More strikingly, among the lenders that do not measure returns at all, 82% still plan to expand their budgets anyway.