The trust gap is closing
Research released in April from The University of Melbourne and KPMG found that while 50 per cent of Australians regularly use AI, only 36 per cent trust it, highlighting a national sense of caution. Yet, when you look specifically at business leaders, the sentiment shifts dramatically.
A new study commissioned by Airwallex, set for release later this month, suggests that Australian executives are far more bullish on AI’s potential. In fact, 91 per cent of business decision-makers believe the greater risk lies not in adopting AI, but in delaying it, citing operating costs, competitiveness, and productivity as the areas most at stake.
Finance is a key area in which AI is being embraced. For years, institutional banking and manual oversight equalled corporate trust. But as the complexity of business grows, and speed becomes a competitive advantage, leaders are realising that human diligence alone can’t scale; more than four in five respondents reported adoption of AI across financial operations.
The rise of conversational finance
Business finance has evolved through four distinct eras:
- Manual management: Traditional banking systems and spreadsheet-based processes.
- Digitisation: The rise of SaaS finance tools and cloud-based services.
- Automation: Integrated systems that manage routine workflows.
- Autonomy: The emerging era of AI agents that act on our behalf.
We’re standing on the edge of that fourth phase.
We’re reaching a point where instead of clicking through dashboards and reports, business leaders will soon chat to their financial systems. Imagine asking a question in plain language, “Why were expenses higher this quarter?“, and receiving a graphical breakdown by department, with anomalies flagged, and suggestions for optimisation – all in seconds. Respond with the suggestions you’d like to action; AI will take it from here.
Your AI partner can verify documents, track transactions, model future cash positions, and even suggest where to park idle funds for better returns until FX rates improve in your favour. While much of this happens automatically, users can always dive under the hood to see how decisions are made, validate assumptions, and make adjustments. In finance, visibility and transparent decision making are key – AI will enhance, not replace that control.
AI is emulating tasks that reduce the dependency on human expertise, and can guide users towards contextual understanding and informed decision making. And even better, you don’t need to seek this technology out. It’s coming to you. Modern technology companies are rallying to bring you the latest AI solutions, and Airwallex is no exception. We’re building an autonomous financial agent that is safe, accountable, and keeps you in control. My job is to make it as easy as possible for you to adopt this system.
A new era of financial leadership
The CFO of tomorrow won’t just analyse data – they’ll collaborate with intelligent systems that manage it. As AI takes over the repetitive, the CFO’s role becomes more strategic than ever.
Finance is poised to completely shift to this new model, from visible applications to invisible intelligence. These capabilities will bring you closer to your own data, help you uncover insights, and remove barriers that slow down decision-making. And of course, they’ll save you an unimaginable amount of time. Using AI as a trusted collaborator will profoundly impact how businesses operate – and feel as natural as having a conversation.
Shannon Scott is SVP product, Airwallex.
