AI budget gap widens
Nearly two-thirds of financial institutions allocate 10% or less of their tech budgets to AI, leaving many lenders underfunded as they try to modernize risk and compliance workflows—that funding gap is already shaping who can adopt advanced models at scale. The squeeze means cheaper, governed AI offerings and explainability will win in regulated lending markets. (asianbankingandfinance.net)
Only a sliver of firms have an enterprise AI playbook: EY’s 2025 GenAI report found 71% of banks have implemented or soft‑launched GenAI but only 12% report a global, enterprise‑wide AI strategy. (ey.com (ey.com)) Regulated‑market buyers are demanding built‑in explainability and governance; FICO now sells a “Responsible AI” stack with patented explainability tools for credit and fraud, while Zest AI publishes validated model‑explainability resources aimed at compliant underwriting. (fico.com (fico.com); zest.ai (zest.ai)) Equipment lenders are piloting AI for residual‑value forecasting to tame rapid obsolescence and telematics‑driven wear patterns, but multiple industry reports flag data acquisition and model validation as the primary barriers to production use. (equipmentfinancenews.com (equipmentfinancenews.com); suitebymonitor.com (suitebymonitor.com)) Wholesale auto and floorplan dealers face tighter supply dynamics as Manheim’s Used Vehicle Value Index rose to 212.3 in February 2026, lifting wholesale prices and magnifying inventory carrying costs that make governed pricing and explainable credit decisions more attractive to floorplan lenders. (coxautoinc.com (coxautoinc.com)) Floorplan underwriting opportunity is reshaping lender footprints as several large banks pulled back from dealer inventory programs while specialist lenders expanded; Solifi’s CALMS Compass was deployed by Hitachi Capital as an end‑to‑end floorplan solution to onboard business needs on a compressed timeline. (autofinancenews.net (autofinancenews.net); solifi.com (solifi.com)) Working‑capital originations are being squeezed by tighter SBA and bank underwriting changes in 2025 even as demand rose; Solifi customer stories show the company expanding working‑capital and portfolio management deployments (Rosenthal & Rosenthal, ALL Capital) to streamline origination and servicing without heavy in‑house AI investment. (congress.gov (congress.gov); cardiff.co (cardiff.co); solifi.com (solifi.com))
