Community banks are waking up to the forces reshaping financial services.
The 2026 Bank Director Technology Survey shows rising concern about fintechs, challenger banks, stablecoins, AI, and emerging digital ecosystems. Yet many banks continue to prioritize efficiency-oriented technology investments over growth-oriented strategies designed to compete for future deposits, relationships, and revenue.
The survey reveals a more important story than what banks fear.
It reveals where strategy and execution remain misaligned.
Fintech Competition is Rising Faster Than Growth Strategies
Banks ranked fintechs (58%) and challenger banks (40%) among their top competitive threats, while concern about stablecoin platforms doubled year over year.
Yet the response remains defensive.
Despite worrying about digital-first competitors that excel with younger consumers and entrepreneurs, 70% of banks have no formal strategy for acquiring Gen Z or Gen Alpha accountholders.
That’s a notable blind spot.
Gen Z is driving much of today’s new small-business formation activity, and small-business deposits typically generate four to five times the average retail deposits. Many fintechs have recognized the connection between younger demographics, payment acceptance, and deposit growth. Many banks have not.
The result is a growing gap between recognizing competitive threats and building strategies to counter them.
Prepare Now for Stablecoins and Tokenized Deposits
Digital asset discussions often focus on whether banks should participate in stablecoins, tokenized deposits, or other forms of tokenized money.
A more strategic question is whether you have the tech capabilities needed to participate when the right use cases emerge.
The winners may not be determined by who launches first. They’ll be determined by who can connect both traditional and on-chain financial systems.
As tokenized forms of value mature, customers will expect transfers between accounts, payment networks, and digital ecosystems to become increasingly seamless.
Community banks don’t need immediate digital-asset products. They should be evaluating how their tech infrastructure, APIs, data architecture, and connectivity strategies position them to enable all future forms of regulated tokenized value for their customers.
The banks investing in those foundations today will have more growth options tomorrow.
AI Adoption is Outpacing Data Modernization
Another dramatic shift in the 2026 survey showed up around AI.
In 2025, more than half of banks reported using no GenAI. In 2026:
But another set of survey data points deserves equal attention:
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Spreadsheet usage increased from 41% to 55% YoY
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Reliance on core providers for data access rose from 56% to 75% YoY
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Only 30% report using a data lake or warehouse
Some banks are moving from experimentation to deployment – primarily using GenAI with Copilot. Governance, workflow automation, productivity gains, and decision support have become priorities.
However, AI systems are only as useful as the data that supports them.
Without unified, accessible, high-quality data, banks risk creating governance challenges, limiting scalability, and generating outputs they cannot fully trust.
Technology Integration is Now a Strategic Priority
One survey finding should capture every executive team’s attention: integration challenges rose from 22% to 58% as a reason technology projects missed objectives.
This isn’t simply an implementation problem.
It’s a signal that fragmented systems, disconnected data, and aging architectures limit innovation itself.
Whether the objective is AI, embedded finance, faster payments, tokenized deposits, or ecosystem connectivity, success increasingly depends on the ability to integrate quickly, securely, and at scale.
Innovation happens in ecosystems, not silos.
Technology Investment Should Shift from Efficiency to Growth
The strongest message from this year’s survey is not about AI, crypto, or fintech competition.
It’s about strategic posture.
Community banks recognize major disruptions. The challenge ahead is translating that awareness into growth-focused action.
Technology investments that improve efficiency remain important, but those that pair efficiency with deposit growth, customer acquisition, data modernization, and ecosystem connectivity will be better positioned to capture new opportunities as they emerge.
Build a Technology Strategy Focused on Long-Term Growth
Read the full 2026 Bank Director Technology Survey, sponsored by Jack Henry®, for additional insights into bank priorities, adoption, and investments so you can keep pace.
Put these insights into action with research and benchmarking resources to help you prioritize investments and plan for growth.
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