StarCompliance, a provider of employee and firm compliance technology solutions, has published its inaugural 2026 Global Compliance Benchmark Study, laying bare the priorities, pressures and structural gaps confronting compliance programmes across global financial services.
Drawing on responses from more than 300 compliance, risk and technology professionals, the research explores how firms are contending with mounting regulatory expectations, emerging employee conduct risks, AI adoption, surveillance modernisation, information barrier management and wider operational transformation.
The picture that emerges is of a compliance function that is becoming steadily more strategic, more technology-enabled and more deeply embedded within business operations, rather than sitting on the periphery as a back-office control.
The numbers underline the pace of change. Some 76% of respondents said they had increased compliance budgets, while 67% are already deploying AI or actively piloting such capabilities.
A further 76% operate across multiple jurisdictions, amplifying the complexity of oversight. Yet significant blind spots remain: 40% said they feel least prepared for digital assets and crypto, and 34% still have no policy on prediction markets or have not considered them at all.
The study also points to a profession attempting to balance modernisation with intensifying demands for governance, transparency and defensible oversight. Despite heavy investment in compliance technology, many firms remain hampered by fragmented systems, disconnected workflows and siloed data environments. These constraints limit their capacity to scale surveillance, operationalise AI effectively and produce consistent, regulator-ready evidence across the enterprise.
StarCompliance CEO Jennifer Sun said, “This research highlights an industry at a pivotal moment. AI adoption is accelerating, regulatory expectations continue to evolve, and new risk areas, including digital assets and emerging trading models, are reshaping the compliance landscape. Our findings also reinforce that compliance is becoming an increasingly strategic function, with leaders expected not only to manage risk, but also to enable growth, support innovation, and strengthen governance across the enterprise.”
Looking ahead, the study suggests the next generation of compliance programmes will depend less on isolated controls and more on connected compliance ecosystems, unifying surveillance, employee conduct oversight, information barriers, AI governance, workflow management and evidence generation within a coordinated operating framework.
The full 2026 Global Compliance Benchmark Study, which includes detailed findings, industry benchmarks and analysis of the trends expected to shape compliance through 2026 and beyond, is available now. You can download it here.
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