Compliance and risk teams are moving through regulatory change at record speed, yet a shrinking share believe their efforts are working. That is the central finding of CUBE’s Cost of Compliance Report 2026, titled From adoption to assurance: the cost of compliance in an AI-enabled world.
Now in its sixteenth year, the RegTech firm’s annual study surveyed more than 2,000 senior practitioners across 11 countries. CUBE’s research points to a widening divide between how quickly firms act on compliance and how well they can prove those actions are effective.
The pace has picked up sharply. CUBE found that 61% of firms now embed regulatory change within 12 months, compared with 26% in 2025. Almost half (46%) complete an initial impact assessment within two weeks, up from 20% a year earlier. Volume is rising as well, with 17% of firms tracking over 100 regulatory developments each month, against just 2% last year.
Confidence has moved the other way. Only 45% of respondents describe their approach as generally or highly effective, down from 59% in CUBE’s previous survey.
Artificial intelligence is a key part of the story. Implementing AI has become the most frequently cited challenge, displacing data governance, AI and automation, and ESG, which led the rankings in 2025. According to CUBE, 59% of firms say AI is embedded or advanced in their core processes, and 10% allow it to act autonomously in compliance and risk workflows. However, 57% do not yet trust AI outputs for critical decisions.
The governance picture is equally uneven. While 58% expect regulatory scrutiny of their AI use to intensify over the coming year, only 34% are confident they could demonstrate AI governance to a regulator today. A further 57% expect AI to increase their oversight burden, a challenge compounded by diverging regulatory approaches across the US, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the UK.
CUBE founder and CEO Ben Richmond said, “I read these findings closely every year, and this year what stands out to me is the gap between what firms have deployed at pace with AI and what they can subsequently evidence. The foundations are still being built: just 40% rate their data governance as completely effective, and data quality is the most-cited barrier to scaling AI.
“Speed appears to be outpacing assurance: firms are deploying AI faster than they can govern it, and processing regulatory change faster than they can embed it with confidence.”
Costs continue to climb. Some 64% of respondents reported higher spending over the past year, above the 60% who predicted a rise in 2025, with technology investment and AI governance the main drivers. Pressure on individuals is also mounting. CUBE found that 35% say senior leaders are declining or leaving roles with direct compliance accountability, a figure that reaches 47% in India. Meanwhile, 45% report rising demand from senior managers for real-time data.
Enforcement adds to the stakes. CUBE’s RegInsight content and Enforcement AI Agent logged 96 enforcement actions against individuals in the first nine months of 2026, across regulators including the SEC, FCA, CFTC, SFC and ASIC, with combined penalties of around $59m.
Despite these headwinds, sentiment towards AI remains upbeat. Three quarters (75%) of respondents expect it to free teams for higher-value work, and 73% believe it will improve effectiveness.
CUBE founder and CEO Ben Richmond said, “Firms that close the distance between what they have deployed and what they can evidence will get the most from AI over the next 12 months.”
For more insights, read the full report here.
Copyright © 2026 FinTech Global
Copyright © 2026 RegTech Analyst
