Financial firms face $23.1m insider risk bill as AI governance lags

Only 18% have fully integrated AI governance into insider risk programmes.

Financial services firms are amongst the hardest hit by insider risk, with average annual costs reaching $23.1m in 2025, up from $20m in 2024.

According to the 2026 Cost of Insider Risks Global Report by Ponemon Institute and DTEX, the sector ranked third for insider risk costs, behind health and pharmaceutical at $28.8m and technology and software at $24.2m.

The report defines financial services as banking, investment management, insurance, brokerage, payments and credit cards. 

Financial services made up the largest share of participating organisations at 14%.

Across all industries, insider risk incidents cost organisations an average of $19.5m a year, up from $17.4m in 2024. 

Negligent or mistaken insiders were the biggest driver, accounting for 53% of incidents and $10.3m in annual costs.

The report also points to growing concern around AI use in the workplace. 

It found that 73% of organisations worry that unauthorised AI use is creating unseen paths for data loss, whilst only 18% have fully integrated AI governance into insider risk programs.

For financial services firms, the findings point to rising costs tied to employee mistakes, data exposure, credential theft and weak visibility over AI tools. 

The report says organisations with insider risk management programs avoided an average of seven incidents a year and saved about $8.2m in breach-related costs.