Brazilian Banks to Invest R$50.4 Billion in Technology in 2026, With AI Advancing Into the Back Office
A MobileTime report from July 20, 2026 shows AI advancing into the back office of Brazilian banks, as the sector projects investing R$50.4 billion in technology this year, according to the Febraban Banking Technology Survey. AI investment already grew 39% in one year.
Brazilian Banks to Invest R$50.4 Billion in Technology in 2026, With AI Advancing Into the Back Office
A MobileTime report published on July 20, 2026, shows artificial intelligence advancing inside the internal operations of Brazilian banks, at a moment when the sector projects investing R$50.4 billion in technology this year, according to the 34th edition of the Febraban Banking Technology Survey, carried out with Deloitte's support. The figure marks an 8% increase over the R$46.8 billion spent in 2025 and a cumulative 58% growth in the sector's technology budget over the past five years.
AI moves out of the storefront and into internal operations
According to MobileTime, the news isn't just the size of the investment, but where it's going: artificial intelligence, generative AI and cloud computing are consolidating as strategic priorities for banks, with growing focus on automating back office processes, the internal operations end customers never see, such as reconciliation, risk analysis and document processing. That's a different move from the previous wave of banking AI, which centered on customer facing chatbots.
AI investment grew 39% in one year
Numbers from the Febraban survey itself, echoed by ConvergenciaDigital and ITForum, show the acceleration: Brazilian banks invested R$826 million in artificial intelligence in 2025, up 39% from R$596 million in 2024. Perceived return on that investment also shifted: according to ITForum, the share of banks reporting positive AI ROI grew 14 percentage points in this year's survey.
Cybersecurity remains an absolute priority
Despite AI's advance, cybersecurity still tops the list: 100% of surveyed banks rate the topic as a high or medium priority, and about 10% of the total technology budget, close to R$5 billion within the R$50.4 billion projection for 2026, goes toward security, fraud prevention and scam fighting, according to ConvergenciaDigital.
Why it matters to whoever sells automation to SMEs
For agencies and vendors of customer service and marketing automation targeting small and medium businesses, the banks' move works as a thermometer: when the most regulated and conservative sector of the Brazilian economy accelerates investment in back office AI, not just customer service, it signals that trust in operational AI is dropping outside the chatbot storefront too. It's a concrete argument for convincing an SME client that automating the back office, not only customer service, is already proven practice at scale among the country's largest financial institutions.
What's clear
With R$50.4 billion projected for technology in 2026 and AI investment growing far faster than the total budget, Brazilian banks confirm a phase shift: artificial intelligence has stopped being an innovation department's pilot project and become a recurring investment line, with return tracked closely. For the automation market as a whole, including outside the financial sector, it's a sign the next cycle of enterprise AI adoption in Brazil should advance both in customer service and behind the scenes of operations.