Survey · November 2026
Survey: how firms are approaching AI in payments and finance operations
ScalePoint Research is asking COOs, CFOs and heads of payments or finance operations how their firms are approaching AI. The survey takes about 7 minutes, and everyone who takes part gets the findings.
- The ScalePoint Research studies show where AI models get payments and finance tasks wrong, and what those mistakes cost. The survey asks how firms are actually deciding what to do about AI.
- It covers which processes firms would start with, how those processes are done today, whether they'd buy or build, what payback a project needs, and who picks the AI model.
- Firms that already use AI and firms that haven't started yet each get questions that fit where they are.
- Answers are anonymous and only reported grouped by firm type, size and region.
If you run payments or finance operations, ScalePoint Research would value your answers.
Take the survey It takes about 7 minutes, your answers are anonymous, and you can come back to it later on the same device.Why a survey
The studies so far test AI models on invented but realistic payments cases, from reading card acquiring statements to judgement calls in nine processes. They measure how often each model gets the answer right, what it costs per case, and what its mistakes would cost a firm.
The survey asks how firms make the decision: who chooses the model, how much of the work is still done by hand, what a business case has to show before it's approved, and what's holding back the firms that haven't started yet. Only the people running the operations can answer those questions.
There's also a working view to test. ScalePoint Research's results suggest that a cheaper model can cost more per case once the time spent checking and fixing its mistakes is counted. That cost lands in operations and finance, while the model is often chosen by the technology team on token price. If that's right, COOs and CFOs should have more of a say in which model is used. The survey will show whether firms see it the same way.
What it asks
The survey has seven short sections, and most questions are tick boxes:
- Where AI fits. Whether your firm uses AI today, which areas and processes from the process map you'd look at first, and how those processes are done now.
- How you'd do it. Buy, build or a hybrid of the two, why, whether you'd bring in an AI consultancy, and how you picture AI fitting into a process.
- Economics. The payback a project needs, and for firms with AI live, whether they know its cost per case and whose budget pays for its mistakes.
- Decisions and blockers. Who decides which model is used, and what's holding back firms that haven't started.
- The wider picture. How the AI opportunity in payments and finance operations compares with other parts of the business.
- About you and your firm. Firm size, your role and where the firm is headquartered.
- Last few things. Anything you'd like to add, and whether you'd like the findings.
Who it's for
COOs, CFOs and heads of payments or finance operations at merchants, platforms and marketplaces, acquirers and PSPs, issuers and banks, EMIs and cross-border payment firms, and stablecoin and crypto firms. The focus is the UK and Europe, and firms headquartered elsewhere are welcome too.
How the answers are used
Answers are stored without your name and only reported grouped by firm type, size and region, never in a way that identifies you or your firm. If you ask for the findings or a follow-up call, your email address is stored separately from your answers, with no link between the two. The privacy notice has the details.
ScalePoint Research will send the findings to everyone who asks for them, and publish them as a study on this site.