Singapore CFOs Embrace AI but Most Struggle to Show Returns, Deloitte Finds
Source: Singapore Business Review
Deloitte's inaugural Asia Pacific CFO Pulse Survey reveals 63% of Singapore CFOs have adopted AI across their organisations, but only 41% report seeing value from AI investments — well below the 52% Asia Pacific average.
Singapore finance chiefs are charging ahead with artificial intelligence adoption, but a wide gap is opening between deployment and value realisation, according to Deloitte's first Asia Pacific CFO Pulse Survey.
The survey of 462 CFOs across Asia Pacific — including 27 in Singapore — found that 63% of Singapore CFOs report some level of AI use across their organisations, with 11% describing their adoption as extensive and another 26% planning to implement AI soon. In the finance function specifically, 44% report pockets of AI use and 7% have deployed it extensively. The most common applications include invoice processing (33%), financial planning and analysis (26%), and contract analysis (26%).
Yet only 41% of Singapore CFOs report measurable value from their AI investments, trailing the Asia Pacific average of 52%. The main obstacles are clear: 67% cite talent and skills gaps as the top barrier to AI adoption, while 63% point to data quality and integration issues. In response, 70% of CFOs are prioritising training and upskilling, 44% are addressing data challenges, and 44% are upgrading finance systems.
On the broader economic outlook, Singapore CFOs are net pessimistic on the global economy at -41%, amid geopolitical instability — which 85% flagged as the top business risk — but remain net positive on Singapore's own economy at +26% and even more confident in their own companies at +37%. 89% expect profits to increase or remain steady over the next 12 months, well above the 83% APAC average.
Why it matters for Singapore: As Singapore positions itself as a global AI hub, the CFO survey reveals a critical bottleneck — even as companies invest in AI, the talent and data infrastructure needed to convert that spend into measurable returns is not keeping pace. The gap between AI adoption (63%) and value realisation (41%) suggests that Singapore's financial sector, which contributes approximately 14% of GDP, may be deploying AI faster than it can absorb it. The 70% of CFOs prioritising upskilling signals that workforce development will be a defining competitive factor for Singapore's financial services industry over the next 12 months.